


stay beside me, always

by cloudcore



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Childhood Friends, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia, Mentions of Character Death, Minor Kyle/Bow, Minor Mermista/Perfuma, Minor Spinnerella/Netossa, Out of Character, Slow Burn, basically theyre just slightly more mature n different because of their surroundings, no horde!au, slighty, this will be surrounding her father but i’ll never go into explicit detail of how he actually dies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-03-14 16:11:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18951544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudcore/pseuds/cloudcore
Summary: I’m not sure who I am. Or at least, who I am meant to be any more.— Glimmer





	1. Chapter 1

_I’m not sure who I am. Or at least, who I am meant to be any more._

_When I was younger, I could be whoever I wanted. It didn’t matter that I was a Princess or that I’d become Queen when I was older, I was able to be whoever I wanted to be. I could pretend to be a maid or a guard. The kitchen staff welcomed me in and let me play around with some of the non-dangerous utensils. Even the mailmen and the announcers allowed me to follow along beside them whenever they visited the palace._

_For brief moments, I wasn’t Princess Glimmer. It was fun._

_Things are pretty different now. Eighteen-year-old-Glimmer is very different from five/six/seven/eight-year-old Glimmer. It’s kind of disheartening in a way._

_I hope I can get time to imagine things once again._

_— Glimmer_

_P.S I’m grounded and stuck in my room for the next week. That’s why I picked up my journal from a couple of years ago, I’m really bored._

 

_xxx_

 

_I was rereading a couple of previous entries from my ten-year-old self after my previous entry. Things were much simpler back then, as I have already mentioned._

_If someone else read this, they would probably say that I’m being overly dramatic- which I guess I am. Eighteen isn’t that old, I know that, but it feels old to me. It feels really old and honestly, quite scary. It’s scary that I haven’t figured anything out, not that much anyway._

_I’m having my coronation ball in two weeks, when I turn eighteen in the public eye. It’s odd that I was born but only announced to the public eye two weeks after, I’ve never asked anything about it, though. I suppose, I’m just used to my Mother having all the answers._

_That sounds pretty sad for an eighteen-year-old, doesn't it?_

_I guess it makes sense that they didn’t announce my birth until way later. It sounds like something my Mum would do._

_I should probably close my journal for today, before the stench of my melancholy absolutely floods through the palace._

_Melancholy, that’s a fun word._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_It’s day two of my entrapment and I suppose I should write about my friends. I read an old entry about them, well, a few old entries about them and it made me incredibly nostalgic._

_I have three main friends here and their names are Bow, Catra and Adora. Catra and Adora live in the palace while Bow lives with his Dads- they live somewhere in the woods, he’s very private about his family. However, that didn’t stop Adora, Catra and I paying them an accidental visit last year when we thought Bow had been kidnapped (oops, sorry about that one, Bow). We keep on telling Bow he should have a temporary room in the palace for all the times he doesn’t feel like travelling back home but he always declines, I guess he’s been trying to get closer to his parents as of late._

_I get that. Well, I don’t really but I can see why it would be nice._

_Bow and I are the same age, him being only three months older than me. Adora and Catra are both one year older though, both having turned nineteen at previous occurrences during the year. We have a nice way of celebrating birthdays, I think. It gives us an excuse to eat cake and hang out in the specific persons’ room all day, it’s quite fun._

_However, I should refocus. I will now write a brief description on all of my friends._

_… Maybe they won’t be so brief._

_Adora:_

_Age - Nineteen_  
_Birthday - January 19th_  
_Favourite Type of Birthday Cake - All._

_I have known Adora since I was a toddler, her being the second of my friends I met out of the three of them. Growing up, when the three of us would play battle, she was always the charming knight that would save me- the Princess. I didn’t really like the fact that I was always the princess… but it made the most logical sense to us, I suppose. She was also the one who was the bravest on the adventures we’d go on as children._

_Adora and Catra were found as babies by Mother and… Father and have grown up in the Palace ever since under the watchful eyes of our Palace healers and knights. No one really knows their true identities, just that their names are Adora and Catra. It’s a good thing they did come with names, God knows what my parents would have called them. Probably something dumb like, well, Glimmer._

_I’m getting distracted again. Maybe I’ll only write Adora’s analysis and feed the other two in later entries._

_Yeah, I like that idea._

_Adora is brave, strong and quite hypocritical, with a tendency to be quite narcissistic. When first meeting her, you’d never guess this but it’s true. While Adora is encouraging, courageous and powerful, she is also rather dumb, self-sacrificing and reckless. For every good thing, there comes a bad._

_Just like all of us, even though I think my ‘bads’ out number my ‘goods’ (that is not good Etherian at all, sorry)._

_I think Adora is way more fit to be a Princess then me, she has everything a leader needs. Everything that a future Queen needs._

_While me, I only have magic._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_Adora came to visit me right after I wrote her entry and yes, she is still as dumb as ever._

_I took me a while to realise her flaws, especially as Adora was the one I looked up to most when I was younger, despite her only being a year older than me._

_She was headstrong and always ready to protect us. It was nice to know someone had my back, making it harder for me to realise that this Godlike figure was just like me. Just slightly better._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_I have decided that Adora and my Dad are quite similar. At least, the way I view them is._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_Bow:_

_Age - Eighteen_  
_Birthday - September 9th_  
_Favourite Type of Birthday Cake - Vanilla (especially when paired with pink icing)_

_Bow was the third of my friends that I met. Despite that, he is probably the one I am closest to. While I met and was friends with Adora and Catra since I was a baby, I met and became friends with Bow when I was five (and Adora and Catra were six). I’m not sure whether I was turning five or if I was already five, but that doesn’t really matter._

_Bow is basically my Mum 2.0. When he was younger, he was always the scaredy cat of the group but now… we’ll, he’s still the scaredy cat. He’s just the scaredy cat in the bravest way possible._

_I’m really glad that Bow is my friend, way more than I care to admit. If I did, it would simply be embarrassing. Bow is the friend that I’m rather selfish over, he brings out the worst and best in me. If we ever stopped becoming friends, I think I’d actually die. I really can’t imagine not being friends with him._

_That’s probably really unhealthy but… it hasn’t hindered our friendship. Bow feels like more of a brother to me than anything. Not that he needs another sibling, I don’t think he needs a sister to add onto the twelve other siblings he already has._

_Yes, I did say twelve._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_Adora came to visit me again. This time she brought a puzzle to do, rather than a game like she did last time._

_This confinement hasn’t been that bad. After three days, I can confirm that I’m not going utterly insane._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_Scratch that. I think I’m going insane._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_It’s day four, by the way._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_I hate that my Mum locked me in here. She already knows that my next week will be full of trying on dresses and overseeing preparations anyway, that’s already prisonous enough._

_If she combines my grounding and coronation preparations, I swear I’m going to strangle her. Or myself._

_Can you strangle yourself? I don’t know. I guess we’ll discover that in the moment._

_As much as I love balls. All the fancy dresses and lighting, I hate the preparations for it. Especially if it’s a ball celebrating yourself. I can’t help but feel bad._

_I do hope my dress is nice, though._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_What did I even get grounded for anyway? Fooling around with my friends on my birthday? Accidentally breaking a vase? Not sitting straight enough at dinner one time? Accidently falling over when visiting the kingdom? Using my powers to light a candle, even though they are in no way fire based?_

_I think my Mum will just find any excuse to ground me. Any at all._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_Day four everyone, it’s the real kicker._

_Which only means that day five will be a whole lot worse._

_— Glimmer_

_xxx_

 

_Catra came to visit me today, instead of Adora. It was nice… as well as excruciating._

_It appears that Catra decided to distract me from my pit of melancholy with her own. She spent ages complaining that no one would spar with her, no one that's strong enough at least. She says she misses me, misses sparring me too. Apparently, she’s only interested in sparring someone with magical power._

_And as my Mother and I are the only ones with magic, I don’t really think that she has many options._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_Sometimes I like to think what it’d be like if someone else had power. Then maybe, they’d understand. It wouldn’t matter who- Adora, Bow or Catra- I just wish one of them could understand what it’s like._

_To be exhausted after using up your magic. To recharge. To simply do magic. I wish they knew how it feels._

_I really do._

_I wish they could feel the blessing of magic. The blessing, which is also sort of a curse._

_Yes, I wish they could feel the blessing and the curse of magic._

_I wish they could feel it because it’s a good feeling. A terrific feeling. A horrible yet good feeling. It’s infectious, really._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_Maybe I don’t want them to know how it feels, after all._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_Sometimes I wish that my friends and I lived in a world of girls and boys rather than a world of almost-women and almost-men._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_It’s the end of day six and no one came to visit me. These days have really blended together to form one huge chunk of a day._

_A really long day._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_This is probably a weird thought, but I want to kiss someone. I really do._

_I’m probably the only eighteen-year-old in all of Etheria who hasn’t kissed anyone. I don’t even think it’s that big of a deal and I still haven’t kissed anyone._

_Bow has, he’s even kissed multiple people._

_Adora has._

_Catra definitely has._

_Even though the concept of first kissed really means nothing, I hope the person I kiss is nice. I think my Mum hopes that too. That my first kiss is to a nice boy- preferably a Prince- who I will later on marry._

_That’s not my dream, but it’s certainly hers._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_I don’t think I want to kiss a boy._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_I think I want to kiss a girl… and only girls._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_That’s weird, isn’t it? Or at least, everyone will probably think so._

_The future Queen of Bright Moon wants to kiss girls. If that ever got out, I think they’d hate me._

_‘They’ being the people of Bright Moon… and my Mum. I don’t think my dad would care, but I know my Mum would._

_I hope Bow, Catra and Adora don’t hate me for it. God, I hope not._

_— Glimmer_

_P.S I really miss my Dad. I always miss him. I always miss him a lot._

 

_xxx_

 

_I’m glad that today’s my last day. I’m glad that I’ll be out soon._

_I’m not glad that after I’m allowed out, I’ll immediately be forced into a whirlwind of trying on dresses. It’ll be like this week all over again._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_Bow came by despite being busy today. He brought me a box of chocolates, they look very yummy. I think I’ll save them for later._

_Well, most of them at least._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_They were very good. At least, the ones I ate were._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

_Catra:_

_Age: 19_  
_Birthday: October 28th_  
_Favourite Type of Birthday Cake: Chocolate!!_

_Frankly, I have a lot to say about Catra._

_If I called Adora narcissistic, Catra is 1000x that. Sorry Catra, but it’s true. I don’t really know why I said sorry, Catra already knows that she is utterly narcissistic. She is very self-aware like that._

_As I explained in Adora’s analysis, I met Catra when I was a baby and she was a baby. Catra was the one I met first, being the first out of her and Adora that they found. That doesn’t really make a difference in our relationship though, especially as neither of us remember. I remember Catra being the one that would drag us off on adventures and would be the one that always got us into trouble. While Adora was ready to protect us, Bow was ready to cry and I was just excited to be outside of the palace, she was the one that would always be at the head of the group. And would always manage to get herself hurt._

I _think as we got older, Catra’s childish nature never went away. Like me, but in a different way. Catra and I are just children stuck in teen bodies, really._

_I think it’s because of this that we get on each other’s nerves a lot. We fight, we make up and then we fight again, it’s just a cycle. The cycle of Catra and Glimmer’s friendship together. We don’t like seeing parts of ourselves in other people, despite that similarity being the thing that will constantly drag the two parties together._

_I think Catra and I are doomed, but we stick by each other anyway._

_Yeah, we’re pretty doomed but that’s what makes it so exciting, don’t you think? The thrill of our inevitable end of becoming enemies’ powers us through the friendship, it’s what makes me continue to come back to her no matter how annoying she can get and vice versa._

_— Glimmer_

_P.S Oh, and Catra was the one that taught me to swear._

 

xxx

 

That night, Glimmer sat on the edge of the platform that sat under the ever shining runestone, right under the place where she recharged. It was tranquil here, for reasons that Glimmer did not know but didn’t dare to question. Her questioning it would ruin the tranquillity of it, and she couldn’t have that.

They were really quite beautiful the stars, they really were. Sometimes Glimmer wished she could fly off into the deep dark of the sky, where she could play and dance with the stars. Maybe out there, she’d find who she was meant to be. Of course, that would never happen and Glimmer knew that. It was not only impossible but irresponsible as well. Her Mother had always told her that her dreams would be the death of her, but Glimmer never listened. Sometimes her dreams were the only things that made her feel alive.

“Hey,” A voice sounded behind her before the owner of the voice sat down beside her on the edge of the platform. Hanging legs joining Glimmer’s swinging ones.

“Hello, Adora.”

“How’s the free life?”

“It’s quite nice, actually.”

Adora glanced at her with a smile. Glimmer grinned back at her.

“Have I missed anything?” Glimmer asked, turning back to look up at the stars.

“Nope,” Adora said, falling back against the hard-white material of the platform as she did so. Glimmer softly laughed at her before joining her, lying back against the floor of the platform, arms crossed behind her head to act as cushioning. “I love the stars,” Adora said suddenly.

“I do too,” Glimmer said with a nod. The two girls lay in a tranquil silence before Glimmer thought to ask something. She didn’t know why she asked it exactly, but she did. “Adora, have you kissed a girl before?” Adora stayed silent for a few seconds before spiralling into laughter. Glimmer looked over at her oddly, smiling at her nonetheless. When Adora finally stopped laughing, she answered her question.

“Yes, I have.” This answer threw Glimmer off for a second, but she decided not to ponder on it.

“Did you like it?”

“Yes, very much so,” Adora answered, not missing a beat.

“Do you think it’s weird?”

“Hm?”

“Wanting to kiss girls, I mean,” Glimmer hastily clarified.

“No, why?” Adora asked with a laugh. Glimmer only shrugged, deciding to sit up after doing so. Adora followed her.

“Can I kiss you?” Glimmer asked out of nowhere. Adora made a surprised sound at the back of her throat, it sounded almost like a cough but not quite.

“Pardon?” Adora asked, biting back a laugh of shock.

“God, don’t make me repeat it,” Glimmer said with an awkward frown. “I asked if I could kiss you. Not for any reason, I promise… and I promise it won’t be weird. Friends kiss, right? That’s a normal occurrence, right?”

“No, not usually,” Adora responded. Glimmer felt a little disheartened. Adora rolled her eyes before shoving Glimmer in the shoulder. “I never said no, did I? Just because normal friends might not do this doesn’t mean we can’t. Besides, we aren’t exactly normal friends, are we?”

“No, I wouldn’t exactly call a friendship between a Princess and whatever you are normal.”

“Hey!” Adora yelled in mock offence before the two broke into laughter.

The two did kiss and Glimmer did end up liking it. Not because it was Adora that she was kissing- even though she was sure that fifteen-year-old-Glimmer would be screaming in joy- but because it was a girl she was kissing. And that Adora didn’t find it weird. No matter how much Glimmer hated herself for it, she knew she couldn’t run away from these types of things.

“Did you like it?”

“Yeah.” There was a pause of silence between them before Glimmer awkwardly stood herself up, making sure not to topple over the edge of the platform. “Want to go eat some of the chocolate Bow gave me?”

“Hell yeah.”

Besides, Glimmer wasn’t exactly what you’d call a ‘runner’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a little more information: in my head, I hc Glimmer and Bow as 16 and Catra and Adora 17 while watching the show meaning that this is set two years after that (even though the show would never have happened because the horde doesn't exist, if that makes sense.) 
> 
> This means that characters who have canon ages (like Frosta) will be two years older meaning that she will be 13 rather than 11. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and feel free to leave a comment/kudos if you liked it! I'll hopefully be posting the next chapter really soon <3


	2. Chapter 2

Glimmer stood in front of the full-length mirror with a forced smile upon her face. A forced smile that she always found herself wearing in front of the workers at the Palace. It was a nice smile, yes, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Glimmer wasn’t currently wearing much, due to the fact that she was to be trying dresses on in a few short minutes. All she wore was a plain purple tank top and purple shorts. Nothing much, just what she’d wear under any gown.

Glimmer wanted to frown at her reflection but chose not to. She didn’t quite like what she saw, she didn’t think she was cute. Yeah, not cute at all. She didn’t like the way her body looked, thick thighs, pudgy tummy, weird spaghetti arms and chubby face. She hated it. She turned to the side and felt like frowning harder but… kept up her smiling face. She really did hate it.

As she was turning back to the front, Glimmer also noticed her hair. She had let it grow longer, it now sitting comfortably around her shoulders. She remembered when, at the age of sixteen, she had cut her hair short with some safety scissors she had found in Catra’s room. It had shocked everybody, however, Glimmer had really liked it and kept up the short cut for a little while. She didn’t know when she had stopped cutting and trimming at her hair but know she couldn’t seem to care less about it. She thought she might cut it again after the coronation but not beforehand, her Mother would massacre her if she cut it beforehand.

Fancy clothes meant fancy hairstyles and you couldn’t exactly do a fancy hairstyle if there was no hair to… well… style.

“Your Highness, are you ready to commence?” A sudden voice asked, Glimmer watched the reflection of a couple of the stylists as they entered the room. Glimmer turned and nodded to them, clearing her mind of any negative thoughts, focussing wholly at the task at hand.

Glimmer had been right in saying that as soon as she was allowed out of her room, that they’d snatch her away for preparations. They had spent the first two days of the week taking measurements and finding and creating the appropriate gowns while Bow, Adora and Catra, her trusted ceremony/party planners planned away with her Mother and some of the palace advisors. Today, she was beginning to try on dresses.

The first dress they had brought out was utterly gorgeous, as Glimmer concluded. It was a lengthy dress of deep purple, a beautiful and rich shade studded with what was fashioned to be blue gems, even though Glimmer doubted their authenticity. She gaped at the item of clothing, gently reaching out to touch the cool, soft and smooth fabric of the design.

“Do you like?” One of the stylists asked.

“I like it,” she firmly responded.

“Well, then let’s see how you like it on.”

 

_xxx_

 

Glimmer found it slightly amusing how they had blatantly assumed her favourite colour to be purple. It was a fair assumption as Glimmer did commonly wear the colour, but purple was far from her favourite.

Orange. That was her favourite as she had firmly decided at the start of the year. It was an odd revelation to have but it had been one, and she had never been the same since. However, she wasn’t expecting to try on any orange dresses as the colour simply didn’t look good on her, much to her dismay.

Instead, dresses of purple, pink, blue, red and green flashed by her, the number purple dresses dominating the others by a significant amount. Each of the dresses had some common design features, each were fairly poofy with at least some form of frill. More often than not there would be fake gems somewhere on her dress or a badge meant to resemble one pinned to her chest. There would often be some form of see through material on the dresses as well, whether that be in the sleeves, layered over the main skirt of the dress or someplace else. However, the thing that definitely was a constant was the openness of the back of all of her dresses, showing off the pink wings that were in the process of sprouting and protruding from her back. While they were nowhere near the size of her Mother’s, she supposed they were something to show off.

Glimmer was currently stood wearing a short ruby red dress with small white gems scattered all over the bodice. The skirts billowed out right under her knees, paired with a pair of flats with attached ribbons that twisted up her legs. She liked the dress and the way it flew out when she spun, but she didn’t think it would suit the coronation ceremony or the party following it.

“Damn Sparkles, are you trying to blind me?” A loud voice sounded from the side of the room causing Glimmer to turn, rolling her eyes with a clear smile as Catra walked into the room, shielding her eyes.

“Oh, shut up,” Glimmer retorted, crossing her arms. Catra fake-staggered into the room, playing up the ‘brightness’ of Glimmer’s appearance. “You’re fucking ridiculous,” Glimmer sighed as she watched Catra nearly trip on the small stair that lead to the platform where Glimmer was standing.

“Ow, my ears are burning,” Catra said with a fake pout before sitting precariously, half on and half off the platform. “When are the dress people coming back?”

“They’re stylist, first of all,” Glimmer said, walking over to where Catra sat. “And secondly, I presume that it’ll be soon, they’re just taking a small break.”

“And they left you behind?” Glimmer shrugged, sitting herself down carefully besides Catra, making sure to not damage the dress.

“How’s planning going?” Glimmer asked, tilting her head to face the girl.

“Oh, it’s going well,” Catra responded with a shrug. “However-” Glimmer looked at her in intrigue, “if you show up wearing something like that, there will be no one to witness your coronation. Your pure cuteness will blind and murder all people who lay their eyes on you. Rumours will spread about the massacre and countless armies will show up to fight you only to be blinded by your blinding beau-”

“Shut up,” Glimmer said as she began laughing, cutting Catra off with a firm punch to the arm which really turned out to be more of a shove in the end. Catra began laughing as well, shoving Glimmer back. “You are so ridiculous.”

“What? I’m just being truthful.”

“Yes, and utterly ridiculous,” Glimmer said with a roll of her eyes. “Anyway, this isn’t going to be the dress I’ll be wearing. I don’t really think red is the right colour for me.”

“And what is? Purple?”

“Well, I suppose so,” Glimmer shrugged, “I do wish it was orange, though.”

“Orange?”

“Yeah, it’s my favourite colour,” Glimmer said, a small smile appearing on her face. “What about you?”

“What?”

“What’s your favourite colour, dumbass?” Glimmer asked with a small smirk. “Is it red or something?”

“God, no,” Catra sharply replied. “I like green.” Glimmer hummed in interest, nodding at her.

“You know, I think this whole thing is pretty stupid,” Glimmer said out of the blue.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I think it’s pretty dumb. Everyone knows me as a Princess, addresses me as a Princess, but apparently I’m not officially one until I am coronated when I turn eighteen,” Glimmer began. “Isn’t it easier to just coronate someone as Queen and not as an ‘official’ Princess and then Queen? I just think we could skip this whole week-long preparation for a party that’s occurring next week for no real reason.”

“I guess,” Catra replied with a shrug. “Isn’t it fun, though? Having a whole day dedicated to you.”

“I guess,” Glimmer mumbled quietly.

“I guess.”

The two smiled at each other before Glimmer let out an overly dramatic sigh and fell against the girl. With a roll of her eyes, Catra put her arm around the girl, pulling her close.

“You know, maybe I’ll wear a green dress and utterly blow your socks off. Just completely blind you,” Glimmer hummed.

“No! That would be an utterly wicked thing to do, how would I ever see again?” Glimmer laughed, whacking Catra gently on the chest in response to her words.

“I’ma do it.”

“Sure, you are Sparkles. Sure, you are.”

 

_xxx_

 

It was at the end of the next day when Glimmer had finally made a decision on what she was going to wear which meant that the stylists could plan how to do her hair and makeup while Glimmer was able to actually practice for the ceremony.

Staying true to her word, one of the two dresses Glimmer had chosen was a deep emerald green- being the dress she would wear to the party. The gown she had chosen for the actual ceremony was similar to the first gown she had tried on, a sleek long-sleeved purple gown that shimmered a faint blue whenever the light caught her. The rich shade of purple appearing to glow on her skin whenever she walked in the light. Glimmer would also be wearing a long cape on the day of her coronation, one that would trail behind her and also had the shimmering effect, just like the dress. This cape was light blue in colour and was clasped together by a small blue jewel, similar to the cape she wore on a day to day basis.

The green gown she had chosen was similar to the red gown Catra had seen her wearing the day prior. A short green and rather puffy dress that was decorated with a golden trim on the skirt part of the dress. The bodice of the dress a pure green with a high neckline that felt only slightly uncomfortable. The sleeves of the dress were of a see-through puffy material, only coming into her arm were the golden band held it in place right above her elbows. The back of the dress was open, welcoming Glimmer’s wings to be out and seen while in her coronation attire, they would have to rest comfortably under her cape.

Glimmer was currently in the ceremony hall near the Palace where the coronation ceremony would be held, a procession taking her back to the Palace where she would then get ready for the ball that would take place in the evening. She was accompanied by her Mother, Bow, Catra, Adora and one of the royal advisors, the one in charge of the whole event. Her friends sat and watched on one of the benches while her Mother stood beside her.

“Basically, the run-down of the event is that these front few benches will be filled by the royalty, leaders and whoever they chose to invite who are coming to your ceremony with the back benches and remaining standing area being left for the citizens that show up. Of course, there will be a line of guards separating the seating, but that is only for safety measures.” Glimmer nodded her head as the advisor spoke, once again going over all that he had told her in the past hour. “The stylists helping you will be in charge of your entrance but basically, the musicians will be playing a song while everyone gets seated and you will enter after they are finished, at the start of a certain song.”

“Is there anyone in front of me walking… or just me?” Glimmer asked.

“It’ll just be you. However, Her Royal Highness and a friend of your choice is going to be standing at either side of the altar.” Glimmer glanced over to her friends who were busy talking, laughing about something that must have been said. “Do you know who you want to be up there with you?” Glimmer hummed in thought for a second before grinning:

“Bow, defiantly him.”

 

_xxx_

 

The four friends sat together in the carriage, her Mother and the advisors staying at the venue to sort out a few more things.

“You excited?” Adora asked and Glimmer shrugged, not knowing what to say. She still thought that it was pretty pointless, but she couldn’t deny the small bubble of excitement rising within her.

“I’m so proud of you,” Bow says suddenly, the pride in his voice making Glimmer’s cheeks blush. “I’m so happy for you! You’ll finally get to wear a crown and everything!”

“Tiara,” Glimmer corrected, “and I don’t see what’s so cool about it, won’t it just make my head heavier?” Catra snickered at that.

“Well…” Bow trailed off with a frown on his face.

“I guess wearing a tiara will feel pretty cool though,” Glimmer said, not wanting to make Bow feel bad. “And bedsides, it means you guys can try it on too?”

“Really?” Adora asked in wonder and Glimmer nodded. The blonde gasped and Glimmer rolled her eyes. “What colour is it?”

“Uh- tiara colour?”

“I meant the gems, you fucking dolt,” Catra burst into laughter at Adora’s words, Glimmer and Bow watching her carefully from their seat across from where Adora and Catra sat in the carriage.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen it yet,” Glimmer responded shrugging her shoulders- at this point Catra was gasping for air.

“Cool!” Adora declared, Bow nodding along with her words.

The carriage sat in silence for a few minutes, the only thing breaking the quiet air was the occasional giggle or snicker the girl made, thinking back to Adora’s ‘hilarious’ response. Glimmer watched her, raising an eyebrow at the girl’s off behaviour.

“You okay over there, Catra?” She asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Catra responded. “I just can’t believe that Adora called you a ‘fucking dolt’.”

“Yes, she was rather rude, wasn’t she.”

“Indeed.” Adora watched them with a sigh, shaking her head before returning to look out the window.

When they arrived back to the palace, Glimmer was immediately swept away with the stylists, saying that they needed to try out some hairstyles on her. Glimmer, in the spur of the moment, grabbed out for Bow who ended up being dragged along behind her.

He looked rather shaken when Glimmer was sat down in front of the big vanity in the stylists’ rooms. He looked over to Glimmer, asking with his eyes why Glimmer had dragged him along, to which Glimmer only shrugged.

He sat down on a seat neighbouring her and watched as they got to work. Beginning to trial hairstyles on her while they also began to trial makeup.

“Now, Princess, I have an important question for you,” one of the stylists ask, making Glimmer look up at her. She was currently wearing a hairstyle of twirled up styled bun, sparkling eyeshadow lighting up her brown eyes.

“Yes?”

“We were wondering if you wanted to see the tiara early, which would also allow us to see how it would sit amongst the design.” Glimmer felt a sudden rush of excitement, as did Bow- he was more open with his excitement as he began to clap his hands together.

“Yes!” Glimmer announced. The stylist in question grinned before running off to fetch it, being accompanied by a guard when they returned. The guard said that they needed to keep an eye on the tiara wherever it went, especially as the coronation was right around the corner. Glimmer stood up from her chair and examined it in the box. It was golden in colour, twirling metal constructed to hold the ever-shining stones in place. The stones reminded her of the moonstone, the runestone at the source of all her power.

A twist of dread suddenly, and quite randomly, filled her stomach. Making her flinch away from the case.

“Would you like to open it now?” The guard asked, Bow edging her on with a nod- he had joined her at her side. Glimmer locked eyes with Bow, who stayed smiling until he saw the pooling of fear in her eyes. Something that would go unnoticed, unless you were like Bow who knew her the best.

“Uh- yes,” Glimmer said, breaking their eye contact. The stylist grinned before ushering her back in front of the mirror. Bow looked after her with a frown, knowing that he had something to discuss with her later. Glimmer began chewing on the inside of her mouth, picking at her nails as she began to feel increasingly more jittery.

With a click, the case was opened by the guard, the stylist carefully got the tiara out of the case. Glimmer realised that the other stylists had cleared the room, to not get spoiled for how the tiara looked or if they simple weren’t allowed, she didn’t know. Bow watched in anticipation as the tiara was brought over, Glimmer beginning to chew on her lip even harder.

When the tiara was placed on her head, an air of silence filled the room. The stylist had a happy grin on her face, Bow looked like he was about to cry and Glimmer- Glimmer wasn’t sure how she looked. The weight of the tiara on her head was slightly heavy, small tendrils of hair curling up and against the object. Her mouth hung ever so slightly agape as she looked at herself, brown eyes filling with a concoction of emotions. She felt happy, nervous, sad, excited and… and so many more emotions that she couldn’t even name.

And, all of a sudden, she began to cry.

Glimmer urgently yanked the tiara off of her head before discarding it gently on the tabletop. Without a word, she swiftly got up out of her seat before exiting the room. She began to run, ripping the clips and ties out of her hair as she did so. Shaking her head to release her purple locks from their previous containment.

She ended up right outside her bedroom, curling into a small ball on the floor, covering herself with her pastel blue cape. She was happy to be back in her usual purple leotard, instead of the many dresses she had tried on during the two previous days.

After what seemed like hours, she heard someone sit down beside her. She had stopped crying, but kept her face hidden from view.

“You okay?” Bow asked, reaching over to touch the girl on the shoulder before snatching his hand back, thinking twice about it. Glimmer moaned in response, burying her head deeper in her arms. “I’ll take that as an ‘ehhhhh’.” Glimmer rolled her eyes, curling up tighter. “You know we can always talk, right. We can always talk about anything together, I promise.”

“I know,” Glimmer mumbled out.

“Is it your coronation? Are you nervous about that?” Bow asked.

“I wouldn’t call it nervous,” Glimmer responded. “I don’t know what it is.”

“Well, it must be something. You began to cry when the thing was placed on your head,” Bow waited for her to say something in return, only gaining a sniffle. “Come on, don’t cry again, Glim. If you cry, I’ll cry.”

“You know I hate it when you say that, when anyone says that.”

“I know.”

“As if someone saying they’ll cry because of me is meant to make me feel any better,” Glimmer suddenly sat up, “I mean really.” She looked over, expecting to see an annoyed look on Bow’s face instead to see a sad smile. She immediately felt like crying again. Instead, she fell back against the wall, right beside him. He put his arm around her shoulders and they simply went silent.

They sat together like that for a while, watching as a handful of people passed by them. Eventually, Glimmer began to speak.

“I don’t know what made me cry,” she began. “I don’t know, it was all good and fun trying on dresses, teasing Catra, going to the venue and getting my hair and makeup done-”

“You’ll have to tell me about the teasing of Catra, neither of you mentioned that,” Bow interrupted, earning a sharp glare from Glimmer. For mentioning Catra or interrupting her, he did not know. He presumed it was both.

“It’s just- I guess- seeing the tiara, especially seeing it on me… made it all real,” Glimmer said, tightly clutching her knees to her chest.

“Speaking of your hair and makeup, you really have mucked both of them up, who knew an emotional rampage could cause this much damage,” Bow said. Glimmer rolled her eyes, whacking him in the chest which made the both of them laugh.

“It’s just, what if I mess this whole thing up?” She asked when their laughter subsided.

“Well, you have three friends right behind you,” Bow instantaneously replied. “Besides, knowing you, you’ll be the best damn thing that has ever happened to this kingdom.”

“Yes, but, how do you know that?” A newfound look of desperation filled her eyes as she looked up at him. Bow sighed a little before looking up to the roof, his arm going lax around her.

“Glimmer, if there’s one thing I know about you- the one thing that I’ve noticed since we were very, very young- it’s that you always pick yourself back up. Constantly, you have been thrown things that make your life difficult, that make you fall apart, but you have never failed to recover from these things,” Bow began to explain. “Even if takes you a day, week, year, you have always managed to overcome everything, or at least stand brave as a response to it. I have no doubt that this will be no different.”

Bow stopped talking when Glimmer leapt up and hugged him. She was crying and he knew that, no matter how hard she tried to conceal it. He simply grinned, putting his arms around her in return.

“Bow,” Glimmer said through muffled sobs.

“Yes, Glimmer,” he responded softly.

“Thank you. Thank you for… everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again guys!! I just wanted to thank you for such a positive reaction to the first chapter uwu, it really means a lot. I hope this chapter is just as good!
> 
> I forgot to add this last time but if you want to find me on a different platform you can find me on twitter @mellowmikans !!


	3. Chapter 3

“Glimmer, are you ready? The doors are about to be-” Angella halted when she actually saw her daughter. Glimmer had turned to face her and, for the first time in eighteen years, Glimmer looked like an angel. Of course, Glimmer had always been heavenly in her eyes, but never before had she looked like an actual angel. With Glimmer’s cape off and her wings exposed, the way her dress and her hair sparkled in the light and delicate makeup applied to her face… she seemed to glow. To shine. Just like an angel would. “Glimmer you look…”

“Silly?”

“Beautiful,” Angella swiftly corrected. “Oh Glimmer, I’m so proud of you.” Angella rushed over and embraced her daughter in a hug.

“Be carefully, Lola, Jordan and Avalon would kill you if you damaged or smudged me in anyway,” Glimmer said, trying her hardest to not get any makeup on her Mother’s dress.

“Lola, Jordan and Avalon?” Angella asked, separating from the girl.

“Yes, the three stylists who helped get me ready today. Of course, not that you’d care,” Glimmer said with a shrug. Angella looked disheartened for a split second before sighing.

“Glimmer, come on-” Glimmer stopped her with a wave on the hand. Usually, Angella wouldn’t stop but as it was Glimmer’s day… she couldn’t ruin it for her daughter. “I’m just, so proud of you.”

“I know.”

“And… your Father would be too,” Glimmer let out a nervous little groan which made her Mother smile. Angella held out her hand, which Glimmer cautiously took. “Make me proud, Glimmer. You remember everything? The oath, poem, all that?”

“Yes.” Angella was about to say something more when she shook her head.

“Well, I must be going because they are about to open up the doors,” Angella let their hands drop, “I’m sure Avalon, Lola and Jordan will be back soon.” Glimmer nodded and watched silently as her Mother left the room. As soon as she left, Glimmer turned to the mirror and began fiddling with her fingers. Her hair was done up in a similar style to yesterday, an obviously empty spot where the tiara would sit. Would sit forever more. Just the thought that after the ceremony- the ceremony that was starting in twenty minutes- she would officially be a Princess was terrifying to her.

The twenty minutes seemed to drag on and on, even when the three stylists came back. They were quick to attach her cape, getting her wings to settle down against her back so that it could sit nicely.

“Are you ready?” Avalon whispered as she clicked the cape together. Glimmer nodded her head, but clearly Avalon saw through that. “Come on, I’m sure you’ll be great,” Avalon grinned.

“Yeah but…” Avalon gave her a knowing look. “Yeah, I’ll do great.”

“If you’re still here after bursting into tears after the crown was placed on your head, I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Avalon said with a grin. “You could have just as easily asked to postpone it.” Glimmer thought for a second before nodding.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Glimmer grinned. “This will all be okay.”

This was what she told herself all the way up until she was standing in front of the doors of the hall. Two big oak doors, the only thing separating her from her future. She faintly heard the music end through the door and the stylists rushed into place, opening the doors as the music started up again on what she presumed to be the song for her entrance. It seemed like all at once, all previous conversations stopped as she began to walk down the aisle, eyes following her as she went. She subtly waved at a few of the younger townspeople, causing the children they were sitting with to spin off into whispers. However, she kept her head forward as she walked through the sections with the other royals and aristocrats. She didn’t know how kindly they would take her waving at them, especially during a ceremony.

Ahead of her, Bow and her Mother stood on either side of the small raised area, leaving a gap in the middle where she would stand throughout the entire ceremony… and stand she did. She stood during the entrance speech done by the minister coronating her, only briefly glancing at Bow who gave her a subtle, yet warm, smile. She stood through the anthem and the time it came to recite her vows as Princess. She stood while she turned to face the audience, giving her speech and poem with a brave and determined look on her face. Out the corner of her eye, she could see Adora and Catra sitting in the third row. Adora looked on at her, proud, while Catra just watched her in awe. She stood throughout the walking of the tiara down the aisle and she stood as she was crowned. She stood though the thunderous applause and the standing ovation she received. During this applause, Glimmer took a step towards Bow before subtly holding out her hand, which Bow immediately took. A small glance towards her Mother made her see the proud smile she held on her face; a smile that made Glimmer feel warm inside.

By the end of the ceremony, Glimmer wanted to do everything but stand. She felt as if she had just stood through a trillion years, her legs and back sore from keeping her straight posture. Her feet were also incredibly sore, strongly disagreeing with the flats she wore as she hadn’t had time to break them in yet as they were a new pair.

A certain trill to the music began and Glimmer remember it as the trill to begin the procession. The procession held her at the front, followed by her Mother and Bow, followed by the Minster and then Catra and Adora who would be the ones to pick up the now empty tiara case. the book of royal vows and the photograph of her Father that had sat on the table where the book lay. A photo that, when Glimmer had first seen it, nearly made her lose it.

As Glimmer cautiously walked down the steps, she realised just how strange the tiara felt on her. While yes, wearing it did give her a certain thrill- whether that was to do with the fact that the stones in her tiara were mostly likely made out of small pieces of a stone similar to the runestone or if she was just excited to be wearing it, she did not know- it also felt completely alien. She didn’t know why she had thought that the moment she was coronated it would different and that a bunch of horrible things would happen because really, she didn’t feel different at all. It was like a birthday, you didn’t immediately feel different, especially on the actual day.  

However, she didn’t doubt that soon things would get increasingly more difficult.

She was able to get a closer look at some of the royals sitting in the seats and recognised a handful of them. Spinnerella and Netossa, two Princesses she recognised because they were often around the castle, sat close together, no doubt holding hands with one another. When Spinnerella noticed Glimmer was looking at them, she made a point to smile wider. Two other princesses she noticed were Princess Mermista and Princess Frosta. While Spinnerella, Netossa and Mermista were all crowned Princesses- Mermista only being crowned this year while Netossa and Spinnerella were crowned two years ago- Frosta was not. Which was pretty standard considering the fact that she was only thirteen years old.

Luckily, Glimmer managed to walk her way down the aisle and out of the hall without tripping over, the one thing she had been incredibly worried about.

Outside, her stylists waited patiently to undo her cape before helping her into the carriage she, her Mother, Bow, Catra and Adora would be riding in. While Adora and Catra hadn’t originally planned to be sitting in the open carriage, Glimmer insisted that they be with her. Catra, Bow and Adora sat opposite Glimmer while she and her Mother sat side by side. They weren’t yet to set off because the ceremony had gone slightly quicker than anticipated, meaning that they had some time to talk.

“You did so good in there!” Bow exclaimed and everyone agreed. Glimmer sunk slightly down in her seat knowing that all attention would be from her. With a sharp eye from her Mother, however, Glimmer sat straight once again.

“You should have seen his face,” Catra snickered, “when he turned around I nearly burst out laughing. He was trying so hard not to cry.”

“Speak for yourself,” Adora butted in before Bow could say his rebuttal, “you were sobbing. The full water works just,” Adora gestured to the girl’s face making her grumble. Glimmer had only now noticed what the two girls wore, Catra wearing an intricately designed suit while Adora wore a short red and white dress, her hair lying out around her shoulders while Catra’s was up in an intricate braid. These styles were no doubt prompted by Bow who liked quite smart in the suit that he wore.

Her analysis of the three was cut short when her Mother began to speak. While this was occurring, Glimmer gave Catra a small- and rather soft- smile in response to Adora’s words. As soon as Catra saw it, she looked pointedly away, her face beginning to burn. Glimmer let out a small giggle before tuning in to what her Mother was saying.

After a couple of minutes which no doubt was filled with the people clearing out of the hall and either leaving to get ready if they were of royal- or aristocratic- status and attending the ball or if you were a towns person to get a chance to see the royal party in the carriage before her big night.

Glimmer didn’t exactly know how they found it so special, but she wasn’t going to be the one to speak against a royal tradition. Bow said she was one for making things here own, but she’d never go that far. Obviously.

The carriage ride was pretty simple. All they had to do was smile, wave and occasionally catch a flower or two. Despite this simplicity, Glimmer found it quite exhausting. She found it very hard to be the smiley, happy-go-lucky royal that everyone wanted her to be.

When they arrived back from the palace, they immediately went their separate ways. While yes, there were a decent number of hours until they had to be ready for the party, Angella had thought it would be best for the four friends if they didn’t see each other until the party. This would not only give them time alone, but time to relax as well. This was especially crucial for Glimmer who had to not only look her best, but constantly talk to people all night, she couldn’t wait to have those conversations. One thing she noticed was that a lot of royals were total pricks, not a surprise really but still one thing she had noticed at all the previous parties her Mother had made her attend.

They all wished each other goodbye before heading to each of their individual rooms. While Glimmer was walking, Avalon intercepted her.

“Sorry to bother you Princess, but I was wondering if you wanted to get changed now or later in the day?” She asked, hands clamped together at the front.

“Later, if that’s okay,” Glimmer said after a second of thought. “I’d just like to have some time to myself and change out of all of this if that’s okay.” Avalon nodded.

“Would you like some help?” She asked and Glimmer nodded. After Avalon had done helping her out of the elegant and helped her gently undo her hair and wash off her makeup, she left Glimmer alone in her room. Glimmer glanced over at the green dress that stood on its stand, basically begging to be put on. She ignored it, grabbing a leotard from her closet, this one being blue. While putting it on, Glimmer had knocked off her crown, sending a shooting feeling of worry throughout her body.

Luckily, she hadn’t damaged it. Luckily. She knew her Mother would have her head if she broke such a precious object, especially after less than a day of it in her possession.

She placed it firmly back on her head before shivering, swiftly grabbing a sweater from her closet before closing it. She carefully put it on, taking her crown off for a brief second before putting it back on when she was done. The weather had been surprisingly warm for the past two weeks, so much so that Glimmer had practically forgotten that it was currently winter. Glimmer teleported to her bed before digging around from her pen and journal which she had buried underneath her pillow. She figured that now was a better time than any to write in her journal, as she hadn’t since her confinement to her room.

 

_xxx_

 

_I feel like things have gone far too fast today. The ceremony and the ride through town, while they felt impossibly long in the moment now… they feel short. Minuscule. Specs of experiences strewn throughout what will no doubt be an intricate lifetime- as most lifetimes are._

_I think it’ll take me a little while to get used to my crown, but I guess that’s only mandatory. One thing I know for sure is that as soon as this day is done, Adora, Bow and Catra are all going to pester me into letting them wear the crown. It’s like when we were eleven and Catra broke her leg after a particularly bad fall and we all wanted to use her crutches._

_Of course, I think the tiara I’m wearing is at least slightly more important and irreplaceable versus Catra’s crutches._

_I think I’ll have to ask my Mother whether the stones in the tiara are actually from our runestone_ _or not, and if they were only made to look like they were so. They certainly feel as if they were made from shards of the runestone, but what would I know?_

_I think the party is going to be the most exhausting part of the day… especially considering as it the most social and long of all three festivities. Plus, if I fuck up my casting in my small welcome speech, the whole night is going to snowball from there so fucking up is something I really do not want to do._

_I hope it goes well, and I hope that Catra is at least the tiniest bit shocked by my green getup._

_— Glimmer_

 

_xxx_

 

Glimmer spent the rest of her time doing various things around her bedroom, fretting what was to come. While she knew that the ball would be mostly fun after her introductory speech, she was also quite terrified of it.

Even after doing a variety of things to distract herself- like reading, doodling and doing one of her many puzzles- her mind didn’t stray from what she regarded as her ‘impending doom’. Even when her team came in and helped her get ready for the night, even when Bow stopped in right as she had finished to throw a small present at her. Even when Glimmer unwrapped it and read the attached envelope, discovering that it was a present from Bow, Catra and Adora. Even when she opened the small box that was previously wrapped to reveal an intricate necklace, did her kind not stray from her worry.

She just really couldn’t mess this night up. Even though Glimmer was used to winging it, tonight seemed like an inappropriate night to do so.

Her team had told her that her Mother would be accompanying her to the hall for the opening speech, as well as two of the guards. This was why when Glimmer heard a knock at her door while she was examining herself as she stood in front of the mirror, she thought nothing of it. She took one last glance at herself, spreading out her wings before walking over to her door and opening it. On the other side of the door, stood her Mother.

“Glimmer, how are you?” Her Mother asked, coming in to the room. “I’m sure you must be excited.” Angella gently placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Both looked- and felt- incredibly awkward, her Mother wasn’t exactly the most ‘feel-y’ type.

“Yeah… I’m ecstatic,” Glimmer said, rather unconvincingly. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes,” Angella paused, “you look lovely.” Glimmer was sure she looked different from usual, which was why she didn’t quite believe her Mother’s compliments. With her hair out, only done up in a neat crown braid that wrapped around her head, delicate necklace and bright green dress- a colour she didn’t often wear. And of course, there was her crown.

“Thank you.” Glimmer looked at her Mother’s appearance. Long hair swept in to a bun while she wore a pastel blue and purple suit, usual white gloves present on her hands. “So do you…” Glimmer advanced to leave the room before her Mother caught her arm, stopping her.

“Wait, I have something to give you.” Glimmer stopped, sharply turning around before crossing her arms. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she just wanted to get it over with. In a flash of light, a staff was summoned to her Mother’s hands. Glimmer took a step forward, intrigued. It looked oddly familiar, for a reason Glimmer couldn’t quite place. “Here.” Glimmer took it when her Mother offered it to her, testing the weight in her hand.

“What is it?” Glimmer asked, lightly swinging it around which made her Mother smile.  

“It’s a staff, I’ve been meaning to give it to you and think now is the appropriate time.” Glimmer frowned at the sudden sad looked that appeared on her Mother’s face, confused as to why she suddenly looked so sad. So… nostalgic. Her next words answered her question. “It belonged to your Father.”

“Oh.”

 

_xxx_

 

“Miss. Glimmer, it’s your time,” one of the butlers who was waiting the main door said. Glimmer gulped, gripping onto the staff tighter before taking a deep breath in and out. She could do this, of course she could. _Can I? Can I really?_ Yes. Yes, she could. She cleared her mind before taking a couple of strong strides forward, until she was right in front of the door. She gave a nod to both of the butlers and they opened the big double doors. Glimmer heard the chatter resonating from below cease as the many eyes turned up to her. She stood at the top of the staircase where the announcer stood in wait, having just finished announcing all the other guests’ arrivals.

“It is my great honour to welcome Princess Glimmer of Bright Moon,” they yelled, causing a thunderous applause to follow. Glimmer smiled shakily, clutching the staff so hard that it was practically digging into the skin on her hand. She looked down into the crowd and managed to not only find her Mother, but her friends as well. Adora and Bow were silently- and subtly- cheering for her while Catra… Catra just looked gobsmacked.

“Hello everyone, Princes, Princesses, Royals and Aristocrats alike, I welcome you to the ball commemorating my coronation,” as Glimmer spike, she raised her arms and caused all the beacons held at the top of the ballroom to light up with her power, just as she had practiced in the previous week. The lights dimmed in the room leaving only the balls of light Glimmer had cast to light the night. It cast the perfect glow. “Now, let this night of festivities begin!” As she yelled with fake glee, she raised her arm. This caused specs of glittering light to fall across the ballroom, majority hanging in the air while some hung among the crowds.

And just like that… the cause of her biggest worries had been conquered and it was… easy. Quite easy. Much easier than she had thought it to be, anyway. Bow, Adora and Catra approached her as she walked down the stairs, greeting her with a hug when she reached the floor. Well, Bow hugged her. Adora stood back while Catra still looked dazed.

“Glimmer, you’re never going to guess who I convinced to come,” Bow said excitedly, grabbing her arm in his hands.

“What? Who?” Glimmer asked, looking around, trying to see if she could see Bow’s mystery guest- or guests. Bow began to wave to someone, and it was only until they stepped towards the group did Glimmer realise who Bow was talking about. His parents. Glimmer immediately froze up before pulling Bow down by the sleeve of his rather fashionable coat. “Bow, what are they doing here?” She whispered sharply.

“You were the one who sent them an invitation!” Bow whisper shouted back.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think they’d actually say yes. They hate me!”

“No, they don’t, they just hate the royals-” Glimmer glared at him which made him roll his eyes. “They’re very happy for you!”

“I’m sure-” Adora cleared her throat, halting their whisper-argument. Both stood up straight and put on big smiles. Catra snickered at them- apparently finished with her mystery chance- which made Glimmer subtly swat at her from behind.

“Glimmer, we are very thankful that you invited us,” Lance said, walking over and giving her a hug.

“You’re welcome, I’m happy you were able to come,” Glimmer said into his shoulder.

“Well, it was hard to convince George to come,” both smiled awkwardly while George cleared his throat, “but we wouldn’t miss it, especially as we weren’t able to come to the ceremony earlier today.”

“That tiara looks rather interesting; would you mind if I examined it-”

“Dad!” Bow interrupted with a scowl.

“I was going to say some day, Bow,” George said, “not right now.”

“But still-”

“Of course,” Glimmer said, stopping the both of them from continuing. “But as of right now, I might go scout out the dessert table, I’m interested to see what they have prepared.” Glimmer immediately left the five of them, wanting to get away from them as soon as she could. She didn’t want to be around people arguing, especially if those people were Bow and his Fathers. On her way, she snatched up a glass from one of the trays a busboy was holding. Taking a big swig of it, she examined the dessert table where a couple of people stood.

She picked up a small cupcake before slowly eating it. It was good, as everything made by the kitchen staff always was. She could see why so many people were milling around, especially one very specific girl who was casually stockpiling a lot of the food on the table. Glimmer fiddled her hair before deciding to walk over, drink in hand.

“You must really like the desserts,” Glimmer said awkwardly, causing the girl to look up.

“Yes, well, tiny food is just too good to pass up,” she said, flipping up the mask worn on her head. She outstretched her hand, which Glimmer took in a firm shake. “Princess Entrapta, it’s nice to meet you!”

“It’s nice to meet you Princess Entrapta, I’m Princess… well….”

“Glimmer!” Entrapta finished for her, and she nodded. “Oh, and- Entrapta’s just fine.”

“Right… Entrapta. How are you finding the party?” Glimmer asked. “I know it’s only just started but…”

“I find it very interesting,” Glimmer tilted up her brow at the odd choice of words. “Balls and parties are the best form of social gatherings.” Glimmer nodded briefly before the two stood in an awkward silence. “You know, have we met?”

“I’m sure we may have crossed paths at Princess Prom once or twice,” Glimmer responded.

“Yeah, that seems right,” Entrapta nodded. “Anyway, I better get going! I have a lot of people to observe, a lot of tiny food and a very little time to do so.” And just like that, the two parted ways. Glimmer watched as the girl happily skipped away. She had heard of Princess Entrapta before, especially due to Bow’s obsession with a lot of her work, and she was very interested in getting to know more about her.

“Hey,” A voice said, taking her glass from her hand as an arm wrapped around her waist, Glimmer would have been scared if she hadn’t recognised Catra’s voice from behind her. Glimmer rolled her eyes before placing her hand gently on Catra’s arm before turning around to face her. She watched with a frown as Catra downed her glass.

“I was drinking that.”

“I know,” Catra responded, placing the glass on the table. “So, you stayed true to your word.” Catra gestured to the dress Glimmer wore, making the girl smile. A slight flush came to Glimmer’s cheeks as she smiled at the girl before spinning around, making her skirt to twirl around her. “You look nice. Blinding.”

“It seems that we’re wearing each other’s favourite colours, huh?” Glimmer said after noticing the orange dress shirt underneath her black suit and tie.

“What can I say? I think orange looks lovely on me.”

“It does,” Glimmer clamped her mouth shut after realising what she had said. The two stood together awkwardly before Glimmer cleared her throat. “I presume Bow and his parent’s argument finished?”

“Uh huh,” Catra nodded. “Anyway, I was actually wondering if you wanted to do something with me?”

“And what would that be?” Glimmer asked, crossing her arms with a smirk on her face. “If you say ‘blow off your party’ I swear I’m gonna hit you, because you know I can’t do that.” Catra rolled her eyes before taking a couple of steps forward, so that she was standing right in front of the girl.

“Actually, what I’m thinking of is way better, I was wondering if you wanted to d-”

“Princess Glimmer!” A voice said, cutting through the girl’s ‘moment’. Glimmer took a few steps in shock, looking over to the person who had interrupted Catra, it being none other than Princess Frosta.

“Princess Frosta, Frosta, how are you?” Glimmer asked, glancing back at Catra before turning away. She missed the hurt expression on the girl’s face which she quickly wiped off when she ran to catch up with the two of them. “You know you can call me Glimmer, right? We’re friends now.”

“I know but…” Glimmer smiled at her to continue, “I just didn’t know how you’d want to be addressed now, since you’re crowned and everything.” Glimmer only shrugged.

The friendship between the two of them was quite an odd one. Glimmer and Adora hadn’t exactly made the best first appearances to the young Princess two years ago when Frosta threw Princess Prom. They had both gotten a little bit rowdy, and Adora’s comment at the first sight of Frosta really didn’t help. However, any awkward tension between Frosta and Glimmer seemed to have been forgotten when the two found themselves somehow spending the whole of Princess Prom together the next year- it was thrown by Princess Perfuma. They had formed an odd friendship that strangely… was quite strong.

“How have you been? We haven’t spoken in a while,” Glimmer asked.

“Of course we haven’t, we haven’t spoken since Princess Prom,” Frosta responded. “But I’ve been good. You looked really cool today, really…” Frosta trailed off, leaving a silence between the two of them. Catra looked oddly between the two of them, taking in the disappointed look on Glimmer’s face and the disappointed look on Frosta’s.

“You were going to make a pun but didn’t know what to make it about, weren’t you?”

“Uh huh.”

The two girls continued to talk for a little while, Catra occasionally spoke up in the conversation. For the most part, however, she stood there silently. When Frosta decided to leave them and venture off, probably back to her parents or to another guest attending the party, the two watched her go.

“What did you want to ask me before all that?” Glimmer asked, looking up at Catra. Oddly enough the girl’s cheeks heated slightly before she groaned, scratching at the back of her head.

“Oh, uh, I was wondering if you want to… to…”

“To?”

“Never mind, it’s chill. I know you have a lot of people to talk to and everything. I’ll just go find Bow and Adora, help them find Scorpia and Kyle and mostly likely see Bow embarrass himself.

“Oh, okay,” Glimmer said with a nod. “Wait, Scorpia brought Kyle?” Catra nodded before practically running away from the girl. Glimmer watched her go, thinking Catra’s behaviour odd before heading off to find someone in the ballroom.

Glimmer was glad she didn’t have a ‘first dance’ kind of thing as not only did it mean people were able to enjoy dancing the whole night, but that she had more opportunity to talk to people without worrying about another thing she had to do. This also meant that she had choice over when and who her dances would be with.

Talking to a number of royals and aristocrats including Frosta’s parents, Princess Mermista and her family, Princess Perfuma, Princess Spinnerella and Princess and Netossa, she had received many compliments that night. Compliments surrounding her hair, her dress, her staff, the ceremony and most of all, her tiara. This didn’t make conversation any less hard, Glimmer hated talking about herself so what was happening was kind of her worst nightmare.

“Glimmer!” Adora called her over as she was waving goodbye to a very nice pair of aristocrats, a husband and wife to be exact. Glimmer groaned when she saw her, rushing over to her before burying her head in Adora’s chest. The girl laughed before patting Glimmer reassuringly at the back of the head. “Hey, it’s okay.”

“I know,” Glimmer groaned once more, “I’m just tired.”

“I’m sure you are,” Adora patted her on the back before lightly pushing her away. “I was actually wondering if you wanted to join in the next dance with me, if you’re not too tired.”

“Yeah, sure,” Glimmer shrugged before the two walked over, taking their positions. If one thing was for sure, Adora had gotten much better at dancing over the years. “Oh, and by the way, what happened with Kyle?”

“Oh my god it was hilarious,” Adora let out a stray chuckle. She was about to continue when the music started, and the dance began. “He basically lost his shit,” Adora said as the two danced together. Adora and Glimmer- and all their friends really- had endured countless dance lessons in the past meaning they were pretty much ready for anything a dance may throw at them.

“As always,” Glimmer said as Adora spun her around and lightly dipped her. “Anyway, do you if Catra has something to tell me? She’s been trying to say something, but I have no idea what it is. She keeps getting interrupted.”

“I don’t know, but I guess you could ask her. She and Bow are dancing too,” she glanced the line to see that Bow and Catra were indeed dancing with two other partners, both girls she recognised. Bow danced with Perfuma while Catra danced with Lonnie.

“Yeah, I think that’ll be best.” It was at that moment that the two were separated, Glimmer stepping to the left while Adora stepped to the right.

“Hey Princess, fancy seeing you here,” Mermista said as she grabbed her by the hand. Glimmer grinned at the girl. While the two weren’t practically close, they’d talked enough at events and dinners to at least call her a ‘friend’.

“I know, it’s so crazy that I’m here,” Glimmer joked, “I didn’t think I’d make it here.”

“Honestly, this is one of the best crowning balls I’ve been to in a while. They’re usually so boring, but this one is okay,” Mermista shrugged.

“Gee thanks,” Glimmer adamantly responded.

“You know me Glimmer, you know that’s the best answer you’re going to get,” Mermista said as the two placed their hands together and walked around each other.

“I know, and I’m used to it.”

“That’s good, because I’m not changing for nobody.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that Perfuma hasn’t been a positive influence on you in the last few months where you guys have been ‘uper close.” The suggestive lilt to Glimmer’s voice made Mermista glare. Glimmer have a laugh and a wink before spinning away to dance with her be person, which was none other than Perfuma.

“Princess Glimmer! I’m glad to see you on the floor,” Perfuma happily said while Glimmer took charge and spun her. “We only talked a little while ago but I’m happy to see you again, that tiara truly does look beautiful on you.”

“Thank you, Princess Perfuma, so does yours,” Glimmer responded, flushing slightly. “I’m surprised to see that you’re not dancing with Mermista.”

“Ah, well… we’ve spent all night together and have danced with each other prior to this so, we wanted to have the chance to dance with different people,” Perfuma shrugged.

“So that’s why you were dancing with Bow?” Glimmer asked and Perfuma nodded. While Glimmer wasn’t close to Perfuma, Bow was. The two being close friends for around two years now. When Perfuma and Glimmer parted ways, Perfuma waved goodbye to her before Glimmer suddenly found herself in Catra’s arms. Catra froze up for a second when she saw that Glimmer was her new partner. “Hey Tiger.”

“Oh, hi,” Catra said, sounding slightly uncomfortable.

‘You okay?” Glimmer asked. With a sudden flash of the girl’s eyes and a twitch of her ears, Catra nodded before dipping her low and making her laugh. Dancing with Catra was always the most fun as the girl threw herself into her dance moves. “Another thing, you’ve been wanting to talk to me about something all night, what is it?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” at Glimmer’s glare she rolled her eyes and continued speaking, “I just wanted to ask you to dance.”

“Oh,” Glimmer hummed before a small smile formed on her face. Her face blushed slightly, as did Catra’s. “Well, we’re dancing now aren’t we?”

“Yeah, I guess we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the long break between chapters. I've been writing really slowly as of late and because this chapter is a bit longer than the other two, it took me a bit longer to write than usual! I hope you enjoyed today's chapter nonetheless. 
> 
> If any of you were wondering how long I presume this fic to be, I planned it out rather simply and am aiming for 25 chapters in total. However, that number might change in either direction, we'll just have to see! 
> 
> All comments, kudos and bookmarks are super appreciated and always noted even though I might not respond to them! See you next time! xx


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw// mention of character death  
> (this is the first time a character has explicitly said that Glimmer's Father has died, this is pretty much the extent of it)

Glimmer woke up the next day completely and utterly exhausted. So much so that she nearly rolled out of her hanging bed. When she teleported herself to the ground, she was shocked to see presents piled together in the centre of the room. She forgot that bringing presents was one of the things guests at the ball could have done. She was excited to open those; it was like a second birthday which was funny as her birthday had only been around two weeks ago. For her birthday she had only gotten small things, like books and clothes. However, now she had a full-on mound of presents to open.

She didn’t exactly feel like opening them. Or doing anything for that matter. Now that the rush of the previous events and the planning that was done right before it was gone, she felt as if she had nothing to do. As if she was in what she would label as a ‘drag’. A ‘drag’ being a period of time where one would simply like to not do anything, just sit around and rest.

In fact, this drag continued for three more days until she found it to be Saturday morning where she finally felt like doing something. Glimmer’s drags didn’t often last long, her longest one being around two weeks. Well, they weren’t long in her eyes. On Saturday morning, she jumped out of her bed, landing on the ground with a loud huff of breath. She got dressed by herself before heaping the wrapping paper of the presents she had opened the previous day before leaving the room in search of a bag she could put it all in to hand off to a maid. She had to go the kitchen staff to find an appropriate bag, a rubbish bag.

She collected the paper and shoved it in there before attaching a note to the bag and leaving it outside the room. From there, she collected up the discarded clothing on her floor and shoved them into their appropriate drawers. After that, she went to her conjoining bathroom where she turned on the shower straight away and hopped right in. Which she immediately regretted as the water was mind-numbingly cold. In fact, she nearly fell over as soon as the water touched her skin, knocking over a bunch of her bottles.

That was the only stunt in her getting ready for the day.

When she was finally ready to leave her room, she decided that today was going to be a normal day. She’ll have some food and then maybe read a book or spar with Adora and Catra. Or practice archery with Bow. Yes, today is going to be a normal day.

That’s why when Glimmer entered the dining hall to see her Mother and her Aunt Castaspella seated at the table, she pretty much lost her shit. Today was not going to be a normal day.

No way in hell.

 

xxx

 

“Ah, Glimmer, how are you honey?” Castaspella asked, getting up from her seat at the sight of her niece before embracing her in a strong hug. “I see that you’re growing out your hair.”

“Yup,” Glimmer plainly responded bouncing on her heels awkwardly before heading to where her place was laid on the table. “I’m thinking about cutting it, though.”

“Oh, really?” Her Mother asked as Glimmer sat down. “This is the first that I’ve heard of that.” Glimmer rolled her eyes before picking up her cutlery, beginning on her breakfast.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll look wonderful,” Castaspella said as she waltzed her way back to her seat, opposite of her niece. “I wanted to apologise for not being able to attend your ceremony Glimmer, I’m truly sorrowful that I wasn’t able to make it.”

“Oh no, it’s okay,” Glimmer shrugged. “You weren’t the only one who couldn’t attend.” Glimmer said this through a small mouthful of food, earning a sharp glare from her Mother.

“Yes, but those other people aren’t your Aunt, are they?”

“No, they’re not,” Glimmer firmly responded, making Castaspella smile.

“I wouldn’t worry, you haven’t missed much since that day, Glimmer’s been holed up in her room, as has Catra,” Angella said, making Glimmer blink in brief confusion. She understood why she was in a drag, but not Catra. Catra basically never had drags.

“Ah yes, Catra. That girl,” Glimmer nearly laughed at her Aunt’s words. Castaspella had always had mixed opinions on Catra and Adora while absolutely adoring Bow. Castaspella was very big on first appearances and so when Adora and Catra broke a bunch of things by accident the first time they visited Mystacor at the age of ten, Castaspella has mistrusted them since.

“What about Bow and Adora?” Glimmer asked, noticing the way her Aunt perked up at the mention of Bow’s name.

“They have been out and about,” Angella responded. “Doing what they usually would. Sparring and training, and of course eating their meals.”

“Of course,” Castaspella mimicked under her breath, making Glimmer silently snicker. Things between her Mother and her Aunt had always been awkward, especially so after her Father died. He used to act as a snark barrier between the two, so now that he was gone… they had their fair share of disagreements. Hell, Glimmer’s recent crowning was probably the only reason that the two of them were behaving themselves at the breakfast table. “I haven’t seen any of you in so long, I’ve missed you all.”

“Sure you have,” Glimmer mumbled under her breath, going unheard by both her Aunt and her Mother.

Breakfast finished quietly soon after, no further catastrophe- or conversation, really- occurring. Glimmer knew that her Aunt would be hot on her heels all day, meaning that Glimmer’s calming day back into humanity wouldn’t be so calming after all. Especially as her Aunt liked to talk… a lot.

“What are we doing today Glimmer?” Castaspella asked excitedly.

“Well, I was planning to…” Glimmers voice trailed off when she realised how negatively her Aunt would respond if she told her that she had planned on sparring. She knew that in Castaspella’s head, she was the same innocent girl she had been when she was eight. Before she started sparring and her before her Father had decided. Things were still good back then. However, when Glimmer turned nine, everything shortly went downhill. Obviously, she was nothing like that anymore. Instead, Glimmer changed the activity and lied through her teeth to something Castaspella would enjoy, “go to the library.”

“Oh, how wonderful,” Castaspella clapped her hands together, “let me join you, my dear!”

“Of course,” Glimmer said awkwardly, nodding her head. As she walked with her Aunt to the Palace library, she distantly remembered that she had promised Adora to spar with her today. She silently apologised to her, not that she’d hear it.

She hoped during her time at the library that Adora wouldn’t come searching for her, however, as it was Adora of course she did. Very loudly, Glimmer might add. Despite being nineteen, Adora still hadn’t caught onto the idea of being ‘subtle’, something Bow, Catra and-surprisingly- Glimmer had all caught onto. Adora luckily had the smarts to, once seeing Castaspella’s presence, whisper to her from the door. Unluckily, she was whispering so loudly that Castaspella and the few other souls in the library immortality heard her.

Glimmer groaned and slammed her boom shut at the sight of her, quickly hurrying out of her seat and over to Adora where she pushed her out of the doorway and quietly shut the library door behind her.

“What are you doing here?!” Glimmer whispered shouted to the blonde.

“I could ask you the same thing!” Adora loudly whispered back, so much so that it was only a notch down from her normal speaking volume. Glimmer rolled her eyes at her volume, deciding to speak in her normal pitch as it really wouldn’t make much of a difference.

“Well I'm sorry, I didn’t know that my Aunt would be coming!”

“Nobody did,” Adora frowned before scrunching up her face in a way that made Glimmer snort. “God, why couldn’t I be Bow? Your Aunt hates me!” At Glimmer’s silence, Adora frowned even deeper. “That’s the part where you’re meant to prove me wrong.”

“I’m not a liar, Adora,” Glimmer said with a cheeky smirk. Adora immortality flicked her in the head.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you weren’t coming, I felt like a dumbass waiting for you to show up!”

“Because she arrived at breakfast time?” Glimmer hastily retorted. “I had no time!”

“But you have magic Glimmer, why didn’t you just teleport your ass out of there and tell me before returning back. Or… you know… staying with me to spar.” Glimmer deadpanned for a second before placing her fingers to her temple and breathing deeply.

“Uh, I don’t know, maybe because it would be fairly obvious for me to just fucking disappear out of the blue! She’d obviously notice that I’m gone.” The two stood silently for a couple of minutes after that before Adora grinned widely, Glimmer gave her an odd stare in return, crossing her arms. “What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just I see what this is about,” Glimmer hates the smug look on the girl’s face. Nothing good ever came from it. Nothing.

“And what is that?” Glimmer asked, deciding to play Adora’s game.

“That you’re too scared that I’ll beat you in a fight,” Glimmer snorted but Adora continued, “you’ve been sparring with Catra for so long that you forgot how it feels to spar a real warrior.”

“Did you just call yourself a fucking ‘warrior’?” Glimmer asked, arms still crossed.

“I said what I said,” Adora shrugged.

“Just go and get Bow if you want to spar with me, he’ll probably be the only one who I can swap out with,” Glimmer said, shoving Adora away. The girl grinned at her before moving down the hall, before briefly stopping to say, ‘It’s good to see you out and about Glimmer’, before continuing to run off. Glimmer smiled after her before turning back into the library. When she returned to the table she was previously sitting at, her Aunt gave her a look that Glimmer only rolled her eyes at.

After only a couple of minutes, Adora came back with Bow, much more subtly Glimmer might add. This didn’t stop Castaspella from noticing, however. Glimmer gave her an apologetic smile before rushing over to the two, Bow closing the door behind her. Things were calm for a second, before Bow turned and started madly whisper shouting.

“Okay, so does anyone want to tell me why I was dragged over here?!” Bow’s voice cracked as he spoke.

“Adora, when I said, ‘get Bow’, I did not mean against his damn will!”

“Well I’m sorry, Missy. This boy right here just wasn’t budging!”

The three began to squabble amongst themselves, their bickering on and on until a tired voice cut through them, making Adora and Bow pause. Glimmer only sighed at the appearance of Catra, of Castaspella saw her as well as Adora she’d be even more pissed off.

“Yo,” Catra said, saluting to the three.

“Where have you been? I mean, Glimmer told me she was in a drag but what about you?” Adora asked, dragging her over to where she had previously been standing next to Glimmer. Catra greeted the girl with a nudge, making Glimmer roll her eyes before nudging her harder in return.

“I’ve been busy,” Catra replied, earning a ‘yeah likely’ from the blonde. “Believe it, don’t believe it. I don’t really care. Now, will anyone tell me what we’re fighting about today.” Glimmer could have sworn she heard Catra mumble, ‘I can’t believe I nearly missed it’ under her breath.

“Well, Glimmer’s Aunt decided to visit Glimmer by surprise and I’m trying to get Glimmer to ditch Castaspella and spar with me.”

“When you say it like that-”

“Harsh!” Bow and Glimmer said at the same time. The two shared a glance before stepping closer together, at seeing this, Catra ventured over to Adora.

“Well I agree with this champ,” she threw her arm around Adora’s shoulders. “You see Auntie Cass all the time, just sacrifice Bow and go with Blondie.” Adora whacked Catra in the side sharply at the nickname ‘Blondie’, everyone knew she hated it.

“Yeah, but she came all the way down just to visit Glimmer, that means something,” Bow counter, “also, remind me to never pair up with you in battle. I see know how little you’d care about saving me.” Catra stuck her tongue out at the boy.

“Well, she does love you…” Adora mumbled, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Yeah!” Catra exclaimed. They then all looked over to Glimmer, to see what she had to say. Glimmer thought over her options for a second before sighing, reaching out her hand and summoning her Father's staff to it.

“You guys go have fun; I have something to talk to my Aunt about.” And just like that, Glimmer re-entered the library once again. This time when her Aunt saw her, she paused- froze- and focused in on the staff Glimmer was holding. However, when the girl drew near, she acted like she hadn’t seen it at all.

“Glimmer, what on earth was that all about?” Castaspella asked calmly. Glimmer sat down beside her before shrugging awkwardly.

“You know… stuff and things,” Glimmer stammered out, “things are always up and going with us.”

“I see…” Her Aunt hummed.

“Actually, I have something to talk to you about,” Glimmer said. Castaspella quirked her brow before watching as Glimmer carefully placed the purple staff on the table. “I want you to tell me more about this, if that’s okay. It was my Father’s and… and…”

“I know,’ Castaspella said solemnly, before placing her hand on the staff and running her hand up its smooth material fondly. “I haven’t seen this thing in years, how did you happen to obtain it?” Castaspella asked her niece.

“My Mother, Angella, she gave it me,” Glimmer responded. Castaspella nodded slowly before sighing and picking it up.

“Yes, that makes sense,” Castaspella stood in silence for a few seconds before passing the staff back to the Princess. Glimmer clutched it tightly and practically sat at the edge of her seat when listening to her Aunt’s next words. “This was my wedding gift to the two of them, mainly for Mikey as Angella was already skilled in her magic, but it was for the both of them… and the child that would no doubt be coming shortly after.” Glimmer smiled softly. “It was very simple back then, not as fancy as it is now, I gave it just enough power so that it would be able to protect them and their child. However, of course that number grew.”

“I found myself constantly updating the staff. When you were four, suddenly two new five-year-olds appeared and even though Micah told me they’d be growing up mainly with the guards, I still updated the staff. And then, I heard that you had a new friend your age which was another update to the staff. Eventually, the updates to it became an excuse to see me younger brother.”

“He didn’t have much time to visit you, did he?” Glimmer asked solemnly. Castaspella shook her head sadly.

“I don’t blame him though; he was a King!” Castaspella gestured widely, “the last time I updated his staff was, well, the day before he died.” Ah, Glimmer knew what she was going to say next. “And I feel like it’s partly my fault. Maybe I could have updated it more or maybe I somehow ruined it was my update.... I don’t know. Then, at the funeral, I see you playing around, and I feel like… like I could have done better.”

Glimmer was going to speak up, but decided not to. She’d had the exact same conversation with her Mother at multiple occasions, and she knew she’d continue to have it. She could kind of see why they were so antsy around each other now; it was like looking into a mirror of the worst kind. A mirror of grief.

 

xxx

 

Glimmer didn’t see any of her friends until the late afternoon, when she’d wished her Aunt goodbye. She hadn’t presumed that she would willingly spend that much time with her Aunt, however, as Castaspella had begun to teach her how to channel magic through the staff- she was very excited. With it firmly in hand, she spun around and immediately went crashing into Bow. Her tiara came off and clattered to the ground while the girl gripped her head in slight pain.

“Glimmer! Are you okay?” Bow asked, swiftly picking up the tiara. If Adora was on the loudest end of the subtle spectrum, Bow was certainly one of the quietest.

“Jesus, you scared me!” Glimmer said, taking the tiara from Bow with a ‘thank you’. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” Bow replied. “I see that someone enjoyed spending time with their Aunt.” Glimmer nodded.

“Well, look, I can do this now!” Glimmer exclaimed, casting a ball of light in her staff before shooting it. Her shooting the ball wasn’t exactly planned, which was why Bow immediately had to duck down. “Sorry, sorry.”

“Nah, that was so cool!”

“I know right!” Glimmer exclaimed. “Now, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Oh, nothing really. I just wanted to see you… you know… since I haven’t seen you in a while.” Glimmer smiled up at him. “Oh, and I was also wondering how you’re feeling.”

“Oh, I’m good,” Glimmer responded. “I feel extremely well rested.” Glimmer grinned. “Thanks for coming to find me.”

“Of course, want to head for afternoon tea?” Bow asked.

“Yeah!” Glimmer replied. They then slung their arms around each other and headed for the dining hall, laughing and talking as they went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the kinda short chapter today!! Today's chapter is meant to be a link from the introductory coronation arc to the next chapter which is going to go in more depth about Glimmer's feelings around her Father's death (so get ready for that). I hope you enjoyed it regardless!
> 
> All kudos, comments and bookmarks are really appreciated and VERY much noted! Thank you for getting me to 400 hits, I'm astounded at the amount of love and attention this silly fic of mine has gotten. 
> 
> If ya want to talk to me, please feel free to contact me on twitter at @mellowmikans or on my cosplay insta at @mukihiro uwu.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw// mentions of character death and a character throwing up. 
> 
> The character death is to do with her Father as this chapter is heavily about that. I'll repeat what I said in the tags, however, in saying that while this fic won't go into detail about the actual death of her Father and the scene where he dies won't be written out... this will still deal with for example a funeral and the feelings of Glimmer surrounding his death. 
> 
> Throwing up is mentioned towards the end of the second flashback, however, there isn't detail in the actual throwing up and instead is just the words.

_“Daddy!” The small girl exclaimed at the sight of her Father. He had been gone for what felt like an eternity to the girl, and so she was very happy to see him again. The man turned around, before smiling widely. She ran up to her, getting ready to jump at him before her Aunt- who was standing beside her Father- stopped her. She pouted at that._

“ _Hello Princess,” the King said, allowing the girl to instead gently hug at his legs. “I’m sorry I can’t be you jumping post today.” The girl giggled only giggled, her pout vanishing._

_“It’s okay Daddy! I’m just glad you’re back,” the girl smiled sweetly before a look of extreme excitement flooded her face and she began to jump up and down excitedly, causing her purple pigtails to bounce wildly. “I know! Can I show you something, Daddy?”_

_“Of course,” her Father responded. “Just as long as you say hello to Aunt Castaspella before we go.” Glimmer outstretched her hand, which her Father quickly took._

_“Okay!” Glimmer grinned before turning to her Aunt. “Hi, Auntie!”_

_“Hello Darl’,” Castaspella said with a fond smile. Glimmer began to tug her Father away when Castaspella put a hand on her brother’s shoulder. “Micah…”_

_“I’ll be fine Castie, I promise,” the Princess tugged on her Father’s hand, urging him to move on. “Okay Glimmer, I’m coming.” The small girl led her Father as fast as she could throughout the castle until they landed in the courtyard. Micah first thought that his daughter was trying to show him the guards who were at practice, but instead she led him over to various drawings drawn crudely in chalk on the ground._

_“Look, Daddy! I drew these, aren’t they awesome,” Glimmer said, running over to them._

_“Yes…” Micah said, trailing off. He was not able to depict what all of them showed, so he asked, “how about you take me through them?”_

_“Okay!” Glimmer said, beginning to talk through her drawings. Some were simple, like flowers and horses while others were more complex, like the messy drawing of a rainbow Glimmer had drawn using a multitude of colours. However, the ones he found the most interesting were the drawings which depicted people fighting or weapons of some kind. He knew of Glimmer’s want to fight and adventure- she was practically enamoured by it. “This one is Catra and Adora,” Glimmer said, grinning at him._

_“Where are those two, anyway?” Glimmer took his hand once again and pointed across the courtyard where the two six-year-olds play-fought with wooden swords. They were under the supervision of one of the guards. He smiled at the two girls, glad that they seemed comfortable._

_“Want to go talk to them?” Glimmer asked._

_“Sure, why not,” Micah replied, allowing himself to be led across the courtyard to the two girls. As he went, guards stopped to salute to him before getting back to their practice. Eventually, the two girls noticed him walking over and stopped their fight. The two saluted to him, as the guards had no doubt taught them to do.”_

_“Hello, Your Highness!” Catra almost shouted, making Adora jump from behind her._

_“Hello you two, Catra, Adora,” he addressed them individually. From beside him, Glimmer waved at them. They waved back. “How have you been?”_

_“Good,” Adora answered, “we haven’t seen you in a while, though.”_

_“No, no you haven’t,” Micah agreed with a smile. “Things have been busy. But I’m glad to be back here. Especially with Glimmer.” The small girl smiled at this. As conversation started up between the three small girls, Micah noticed that one of the guards was signalling him over; no doubt calling him for a meeting of importance._

_“Mr. King,” Catra said, drawing his attention back, “I just realised that you haven’t met Bow, yet.”_

_“Bow?” Micah asked hesitantly, deciding whether he should follow the guard or stay with the girls for a small while longer._

_“Yeah! He’s a new friend Glimmer made,” Catra said for her, as Glimmer’s face was beginning to burn. “He’s really cool!”_

_“I see,” Micah said, smiling at the fact that his daughter had made a new friend. He knew that Glimmer, while being rather rambunctious, was a rather shy individual and had trouble making friends. He was about to ask a follow-up question when a guard came over and called for his attention._

_“Your Highness-”_

_“Yes, I know,” Micah said, cutting them off. Glimmer frowned at this, not wanting her Father to leave after being with her for such a short while. “I’ll come.”_

_“But, Dad…”_

_“Sorry, Glimmy,” Micah said, ducking down to pat her daughter on the head. “But… it’s King time now.”_

 

_xxx_

 

Glimmer watched as Catra and Adora sparred with one another, swords clashing against each other as they went. After years of observing the two fight, Glimmer had picked up on quite a lot of mannerisms while in battle. For example, while Adora wasn’t very precise in her technique, she was very heavy-handed in her attacks. This meant that unless she was paired up with someone very precise in their fighting technique, she was often able to overpower them. This contributed to one of the reasons Glimmer like watching Catra and Adora fight so much, as Catra was someone very precise in their technique and ultimately a very bad match for Adora to fight against.

She hoped to God the two never had to fight against each other in a literal sense, as she knew it wouldn’t end well.

While she often found herself having a slight personal preference over Catra- for some reason unknown to her- she could truthfully say that she much preferred the way Catra fought over Adora. Not that Adora’s style wasn’t cool- which it was- it was just something about the gracefully and fluid way Catra constantly moved throughout her fight. She was basically enthralled in it, she felt as if she looked away for one second… she’d miss something incredible.

As she watched the match go on, watching Catra’s frame intricately move in reaction to Adora’s… she found it increasingly hard to breathe. Watching the girl’s eyes flash with unbridled tension as a smirk shone on her face, hair flying wildly as she jumped around, her face seemed to heat up. It was in moments like these that Glimmer wanted to be close to Catra, physically and mentally. She wanted to run her hands through her hair, bodies close to one another as they breathed in sync.

“Glimmer!” A shout cut through her day dream, causing her to practically fall back on the bench she sat on. Especially as it was Catra’s voice that called her to attention. “You okay?” Catra asked as she made her way over to the girl.

“Oh- oh yeah,” Glimmer mumbled, standing up on suddenly shaky legs. “Did Adora win?” She asked, and Catra nodded.

“It was fucking close, though,” Catra shrugged. “Anyway, it’s your turn to duel.” Catra picked up her staff from where it was resting on the bench and passed it over to her. Their hands brushed together briefly, causing Glimmer to linger her hold before gently taking it from Catra, the two smiled at each other before Glimmer made her way over to Adora. Catra hadn’t known the reason behind the small smile, but really, neither did Glimmer. Not yet, anyway.

“You ready?” Adora asked, and Glimmer nodded.

“You sure me using my magic’s fine?” Glimmer asked as the two prepped themselves to start.

“It always is,” Adora responded, “you know that, Glimmer.” Adora always looked different when Glimmer was facing her. She was more… intimidating, so much so that she almost felt too scared to attack her. Unlike when she was versing Catra, Glimmer was always happy to smack her narcissistic mouth shut with a spell or two.

When Catra called them to start the first of round, Adora immediately sprung to action, which Glimmer was used to. While Glimmer liked being the second to attack and first to duck or block, Adora was the utter opposite. Glimmer was better with winning with technique, while Adora was better at winning with strength- this might have something to do with the fact that Catra was a major help in teaching Glimmer combat when the two were younger while Adora was taught by many of the guards. Catra was too, but she always had a way of doing things her own way.

The fight commenced with many sounds of metal clang off metal, the sword in Adora’s hand hitting strongly against the purple staff in Glimmer’s. With twirls and the occasional shot of magic, Glimmer managed to hold her own. She managed to stay strong round after round, up until a couple of the final ones where she gave into her weariness- not only from the activeness of their fight but the amounts of magic she had used as well.

“Good run!” Adora exclaimed, holding out her hand for Glimmer to shake. Glimmer smiled at her and shook her hand tiredly, wiping sweat off her forehead. “I’m surprised that your staff is so strong.

“I know!” Glimmer exclaimed. “It looks really weak but it’s actually really strong. It’s probably something to with it being made in Mystacor.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Adora nodded. As the two girls spoke, they didn’t notice one of the maid’s approaching them. When she called them to attention, she told Glimmer that her Mother had dropped off some work to do in her room. While it wasn’t urgent, her Mother advised her to start them as soon as she could.

“What was that about?” Catra asked after the maid had walked away.

“Oh, it’s just work my Mother left for me,” Glimmer replied.

“Princess business?” Catra asked.

“Probably.”

“You should probably go do it,” Adora suggested. “If your Mother suggested it, it’s probably wise to follow her orders.”

“Yeah...” Glimmer trailed off. The three stood awkwardly before Glimmer went, “welp, I should probably get going, bye!” Adora and Catra said goodbye to her and watched her run off.

“Again?” Adora asked, and Catra nodded.

The quickest way to get to Glimmer’s room from the courtyard was to walk past the mural made of her Father on one of the palace walls, which Glimmer always hated doing but went by anyway. This time, with the staff newly in her hand, she couldn’t help but slow down when running by his mural. She slowed to a stop and looked up at it, gently placing her hand against the cool material of the mural.

Glimmer remembered that when the mural was built all those years ago, she used to sit in front of it. She wouldn’t say anything, and she wouldn’t do anything- she’d just sit in front of the mural and look up at the silhouette of her Father. Even back when she was nine and she didn’t have a solid idea of what ‘death’ actually was, she’d sit in front of the mural. Missing him. She couldn’t remember the amount of times she’d woken up in bed after falling in front of the mural.

“I miss you,” she whispered out before heading in her way, hoping that somehow her Dad would hear her. Of course, she knew that was impossible.

 

_xxx_

 

_Glimmer sat patiently by the gates of the palace. An attendant had told her that her Mother and Father would be returning today, and that she’d finally be able to see them again. She was ecstatic. The two of them had missed her ninth birthday while they were away, and so they were instead going to throw the birthday dinner a little later than usual. She was reading while waiting for them, hiding the fact that she was reading a fantasy novel by putting the cover of one of her textbooks over._

_While Glimmer didn’t know when her parents were getting back, she knew something was wrong when the sky started getting darker and darker until the bright colours of sunset filled the sky. She was up to the last page of her novel when she heard someone walking over to her and looked up to see Bow._

_“Hey,” Glimmer said, marking the page- despite it being the final one- and putting it down on the grass. “I thought you’d be home by now.”_

_“No, I’m staying until after you have your party!” Bow announced, sitting down opposite her. “Do you think they’ll be home soon?”_

_“I hope so!” Glimmer replied, leaning back on the tree she was leaning up against. “I don’t want my dinner to go to waste.” Both nine-year-olds descended into giggles until Bow sighed. He touched his feet to hers before moving around on the grass to sit next to her._

_“Do you think they’re having delays?”_

_“Probably. Mr. Attendant told me to not get my hopes up of them coming before lunch.”_

_“But… it’s after lunch now-” Glimmer shrugged at Bow’s words- “and by ‘Mr. Attendant’ I assume you mean Mr. Beaker?”_

_“Oh, yeah! That’s him!” Glimmer smiled and Bow rolled his eyes._

_“How’s the book?” He asked, gently knocking on the cover. “I know you wouldn’t read about math in your free time. You suck at it!”_

_“Hey!” Glimmer shouted, slapping him hard on the lag. “I was on the last page, actually. Until you came along.”_

_“Well, why don’t you read the page and then we can talk more?” Bow suggested._

_“Good idea!”_

_If Glimmer was concerned about her parents not arriving at the start of golden hour, she was definitely concerned when they hadn’t come back when the sky turned dark. While talking to Bow did definitely help her take her mind off things, she couldn’t help but be slightly worried. Her Mum was never late! Never. Even if they were coming back from a dangerous area._

_“What are you nerds doing out here?” A voice called to them, causing their conversation to break and look up at the two girls who had come over to them- Catra and Adora. Catra being the one calling them nerds and holding a torch in her hand. Catra frowned when Glimmer only shrugged, but said nothing. The two sat down and Catra passed Adora the torch._

_While it wasn’t dark outside- especially for Catra who could see very well in the dark- a torch was still kind of necessary. The sky above the four glowed in a pale light, being lit up by the moon and stars. The castle looked beautiful against the night sky; the structure practically glowing while the moonstone glowed angelically against the sky- as would expected of a moon-related runestone._

_“Dinner’s ready,” Adora said, speaking up. “They decided to cancel the birthday dinner because your parents aren’t home yet.”_

_“Oh,” was the only thing Glimmer could say in response to that. “Do you know what's taking her so long? Do any of the guards.”_

_“No…” Adora said. However, from the look on her face, Glimmer knew she was lying. That was when a sick feeling began building in her stomach. Oh no, was all she could think. “I wouldn’t worry, though. The carriage will come through the gates at any moment.”_

_Which it did, eventually. It was dark and late and all four of them were incredibly tired. That didn’t stop Glimmer from spring up when she saw her Mother walk out of the carriage. And it didn’t stop her from descending into a fit before throwing up on the fresh grass when she realised not only was her Dad not coming out of the carriage, but that her Mother was crying._

_Glimmer never did get to celebrate her ninth birthday. Not that she wanted to, anyway._

 

_xxx_

 

“Steady now, Glimmer. I don’t care how cliché you think balancing books on your head is, but we’re doing it and I want you to take it seriously,” Angella instructed as she walked around Glimmer, observing the girl as she balanced three particularly heavy- and thick- books on her head.

“I know, Mum,” Glimmer said, making sure Angella was behind her before rolling her eyes. Out of all the lessons her Mother had begun to teach her- table manners, advanced dance, formality, addressing, reading and responding to documents and poise- poise was her least favourite. Sure, Glimmer had never had extraordinary posture, but she could balance books on her head any day. It wasn’t fucking hard, and the passive-aggressive tone in her Mother’s voice certainly didn’t help her feel motivated to do ‘better’. If you could get better at balancing books on your head, that was. The only good part of her poise class was when she was allowed to take her crown off, despite the charm she had put on it to stay on her head… it was still temperamental and heavy.

She wished she could go back in time before her Mother’s Princess lessons.

“Alright, then if you’re so confident why don’t you walk up and down the carpet in this room, then?” Besides from the table manners lessons and most of the document-related lessons, all lessons were held in the throne room. This meant in her poise lessons, that there was a rather long area she was able to walk down.

Glimmer nodded her head before beginning to walk, balancing the books on her head, It was… slightly more difficult than she anticipated but she managed to do it successfully, her head only slightly hurting when got back to her Mother while she took the books off her head for her.

“That was easy,” Glimmer said, making Angella roll her eyes.

“For now,” Angella shrugged. “I can’t promise how easy it’ll be in the future, but if you practice, you’ll certainly get better at it. “Just be glad it’s not him teaching you, he’d work you to the bone.”

“You can say his name you know,” Glimmer frowned, “it’s Micah.”

“I know.” The two didn’t say much after that, but Angella did add a vase to what Glimmer should balance on her head… which she immediately dropped on the ground. Luckily, Angella caught it in an orb of light before it smashed to the ground. “I think we should end the lesson now.”

“Okay,” Glimmer said with no complaint.

“I’ll see you after lunch in the library, we have documents to go through,” Glimmer nodded before watching her Mother exit the room. When her Mother was fully gone and out of ear shot, Glimmer mumbled, “we have documents to go through,” in a condescending tone before going to her room. She’d been taking a lot of meals in her room, so she assumed that the maids would know to take the meal to her bedroom if she didn’t turn up to the dining room. However, on the way to her room, she ran into Avalon. Who was holding a white bucket of something in each hand. Glimmer didn’t know what it was.

“Avalon, hello,” Glimmer said, approaching the girl. Avalon turned and smiled at her before adjusting the buckets in her hands, they seemed to be heavy. “What are those?”

“Oh, just things that Miss. Catra ordered,” Avalon shrugged. “I’m just taking them to her room for her because she wasn’t able to collect them at the gate.”

“Oh, alright,” Glimmer nodded. “How are you, by the way?”

“I’m good! How are you?”

“I’m… okay. I just have a lot of work to do.”

“Well, I’d hate to keep you,” Avalon grinned. “I hope you have a fabulous day!”

“You too, Avalon.”

When Glimmer arrived at her room, she didn’t quite know what to do. So, she decided to look through her shelves for a book to read or an activity to do. She ended up choosing to read, grabbing one of the new books she had received from her birthday with a grin. She took it with her before teleporting up to her bed, beginning to settle down before opening the book.

However, for whatever reason, her mind wouldn’t focus. She ended up reading the first page seven times before taking in the scattered words on the page. Her mind seemed incredibly active, her body buzzing with energy. She felt the need to go outside and run around to release the energy built up within her but at the same time… she just couldn’t bring herself to.

Instead, her thoughts randomly landed on her Father. Or maybe not randomly, as she had said his name right to her Mother’s face. She hadn’t said his name often since his death nine years ago as he was a topic that was terribly avoided. Micah. Micah. Micah. Glimmer thought it was a cool name, much cooler than hers at least. Glimmer put her book down beside her before teleporting down to the ground and looking through her shelves once more. This time, however, she clearly knew the target of the search. A book of spells her Father had gifted her, that was filled with intricate writings and illustrations of each.

When she did find it, she took it out gently. She, for some reason, had never looked inside the journal since the day it was given to her as a present by one of the attendants. Glimmer distantly remembered the time surrounding her ninth birthday. The time her Father died. The time Adora accidently cut a huge chunk of Catra’s hair off. The time she cast an accidental enchantment on Bow that made him freeze, only to be unfrozen when Glimmer sneezed later in the day. Of course, these things didn’t happen in that order. Back then Glimmer knew it would have been too hard for a younger version of herself to open a book given to her by her Father and it was still too hard for her now. She knew that. But, she suddenly had a burst of strength within her just waiting to be released, and if reading her Father’s journal would give her that release then she’d look through it.

Glimmer knew that nine years of grief might be a little overboard, but she couldn’t help it. No one had handled the situation of her Father dying well, silently making it a forbidden topic instead of making it something that they should work through together. Making the wound of her Father’s death still very apparent, despite it happening years ago.

The journal was bound in a deep blue leather, the pages appearing a faint yellow from the outside. With a small pattern of stars on the front that was stitched in a thread that faded from gold to silver to bronze, the small journal was really beautiful. Glimmer remembered the card that had been attached the journal, telling her of how the journal originally belonged to her Father’s teacher Light Spinner. He had received the journal when Light Spinner had sadly passed away, being the closest student to her it was reasonable to believe that she would have wanted him to have it if she’d been aware of her death.

And so, her Father Micah had received it.

Glimmer had just opened the book when a knock sounded at her door and her food was swiftly brought in, leaving her with a warm meal to eat while reading through the spells written in the journal. A majority of the first pages were filled with scrawling writing, detailed in its nature with beautiful illustrations to accompany it. Glimmer presumed that these pages were done by Light Spinner. This thought was only solidified when about three-quarters of the way through, the writing style and handwriting changed. The only thing that didn’t was the pictures, leaving Glimmer to believe her Father had been the one to illustrate the book from the beginning.

To her delight, there happened to be a small section written by her Father all about spells, charms and incantations would could do with a staff. Most of them specifically to his, which now belonged to Glimmer. The girl decided to restart the journal when she finished skimming, deciding upon the decision of taking notes on spells she was interest on casting in a separate and blank journal she owned. Glimmer owned a lot of empty journals, not only because her diary was the only one she wrote in but also because it was a common present she received from other royalty.

Glimmer didn’t know what about her screamed ‘journal’, but she’d take what she could get.

From there, her afternoon descended into one of taking notes and briefly trying out a few of the easier spells before she was called by a maid to attend a lesson with her Mother.

 

_xxx_

 

_Glimmer didn’t like wearing black, neither did she understand the reason behind it. It wasn’t like reading a certain colour would bring her Father back, so why was it so necessary? Glimmer didn’t know. Today, Glimmer knew she would be attending her Father’s funeral. She didn’t exactly know what a funeral entailed as it was her first, but as Bow, Adora and Catra would also be there… she wasn’t too worried about it. Boy was she wrong not to be._

_When they got to the destination the funeral was being held, the immediate sombre atmosphere of the environment made Glimmer uncomfortable. So much so that she practically latched herself onto Bow, continuing to hold his hand during the time pre-ceremony and throughout it. She was uncomfortable during the speeches her Aunt, Mother and an old friend of her Father’s made, uncomfortable during the hymns they sang and uncomfortable during the words that the priest spoke throughout the ceremony. However, she was especially uncomfortable during the actual burial._

_Glimmer didn’t know how she felt regarding the idea that her Father was in the box being lowered into the ground, but she knew that whatever she was feeling wasn’t positive. She, Catra, Adora and Bow had been allowed to sit down along with a few other kids who came while the adults stood behind them. Bow and Glimmer still held hands, however, she found Catra holding the other one during the burial. One quick and subtle glance at the girl’s face made Glimmer realise that Catra was just as uncomfortable- if not more- than she was. Glimmer held on to her hand tightly after that._

_When Bow and Glimmer let go of each other was when the post-ceremony ensued. Truly the weirdest part of the day for Glimmer. She didn’t understand how people seemed so… happy. Everyone, even her Mother and Aunt, seemed loud and talkative- not with each other, though. She didn’t understand how the mood of the day had shifted, especially after her Father had been lowered into the freaking ground! Glimmer just didn’t get it._

_Adora and Bow seemed to though as they slid right in with everyone else. Glimmer frowned at this, and without a look back, wandered back over to her Father’s intricate and ornate grave that sat in the graveyard a little bit away from the what was now party._

_“You okay?” Catra asked, suddenly appearing behind her after only a few minutes in front of the structure. “I brought you a cupcake.” Glimmer took it awkwardly with a “thank you,” before beginning to nibble at it. She didn’t have much of an appetite. “You didn’t answer my question, you know.”_

_“What?”_

_“I asked if you were okay.”_

_“Oh…” Glimmer frowned, wiping some icing off her top lip causing it to streak across her cheek. Catra sighed pitifully at this, taking her thumb and cleaning up the icing before licking it off her finger. Glimmer said nothing in response, which was unnerving to Catra as she expected Glimmer to at least dodge her hand if not laugh or swat it away. “I guessed I’m okay, just confused.”_

_“Confused?” Catra echoed and Glimmer nodded._

_“I don’t get how everyone is so happy, my Father’s in the ground- he’s dead! And everyone is just out there being happy and having a great time,” words began to spiral from her mouth, “Adora, Bow, Mom, Auntie… they all look so- so- so-”_

_“Hey…” Catra said, shushing the girl before awkwardly putting an arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay.”_

_“No, it’s not, no it’s not,” Glimmer kept repeating as she sunk to the ground. In return, Catra kept quietly reassuring her. While Catra still felt awkward, she continued to hold the girl and pat her on the back as Glimmer cried. They stayed like that for a while, Glimmer mumbling and muttering while Catra only held her in a strong grip and mumbled to her in response._

 

_xxx_

 

Glimmer focused on the empty plant pot in front of her, screwing her eyes shut before she felt her palms beginning to burn. However, she kept pushing. Pushing and pushing… until she felt the heat trickle from her palms in a tap-like sensation. She slowly opened her eyes and- to her amazement- she saw a plant beginning to sprout through. This hadn’t been her first try at the spell, obviously, but it was going surprisingly well.

She kept pushing and pushing, pausing to wipe the sweat off her brow as she went, until in front of her… a fully-grown flower sat in front of her. The only thing it had yet to do was bloom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! Sorry that this chapter took so long n that it's not (in my opinion) as good as the others. I'm on holidays at the moment and have been feelin pretty sick recently so I haven't had much time to write, I do hope you do enjoy this chapter though! Chapters from now on might take a little more time to write because I've been having writers' block recently but yea. 
> 
> As always, all hits comments and kudos' are always noted and really appreciated. If you want to talk to me feel on other platforms you can find me on twitter @mellowmikans and on Instagram @mukihiro . I hope you're having a good day/night! See you next time xxx


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw// alcohol use (Sorry I didn't add this sooner, I forgot >.<)

“Are you ready for the greatest night of our lives?!” Bow voice boomed around the room as he slammed open the doors, running into the dining hall where Catra, Adora and Glimmer sat eating.

“What?” Catra asked with a groan, not happy with his loud tone so early in the morning. Glimmer on the other hand got scared, dropping her spoon into the bowl of cereal she was eating with a frown. “What are you talking about?”

Bow looked at her as if she was the dumbest person on earth, face fully blanking before he answered, “it’s New Year’s Eve. You know, the last day of the year? The day before the first day of the year? The day where we celebrate together as a friend group?”

“Yeah, so what?” Catra responded, continuing to eat.

“So what? So what?! I’ll tell you what Missy-” Bow’s scolding was cut off when Adora suddenly leapt from her seat, yelling about New Year’s Eve before joining Bow’s side. Glimmer had forgotten how excited the two got over things like New Year’s Eve. “Thank you, Adora!”

“No prob!” Adora yelled in return. “It’s New Year’s Eve and we haven’t even got any decorations! Or food! Or fireworks!”

“The town has a firework show we watch from my room every year, though,” Glimmer piped up, levitating her spoon out of her bowl as she spoke. “You know I’m only allowed out on the first, it's a rule my Mother is simply adamant about.”

“Ugh, I know,” Bow said, sitting down beside Glimmer. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have the most killer party ever! I just need someone to join me.”

“On a quest?” Catra asked absentmindedly.

“Exactly!” Bow exclaimed. “Now Adora, Catra, will you join me in buying the things we’ll need for the party tonight?”

“Of course!” Adora yelled, making Bow grin. “What about you, Catra?” She asked.

“I think I should stay here and accompany this one,” Catra said, gesturing to Glimmer across the table. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble on the last day of the year.” Glimmer only rolled her eyes, as if Catra would be the one keeping her out of trouble.

“When are you guys going to set out?” Glimmer asked.

“Well I was thinking… right now, baby!” Bow responded with a yell, earning a cheer from Adora. Glimmer rolled her eyes at them, groaning in disapproval at Bow calling her ‘baby’. “We gotta hit those shops and buy all our party provisions.”

“Nice use of alliteration,” Catra said as Bow stood up from his seat.

“Thank you!”

Adora and Bow shortly departed after that, after Catra had finished her breakfast and while Glimmer was just about done with hers. As neither of them had anything to do- Angella never gave her any work to do on holidays and neither she or Catra had to attend their respective lessons- Catra patiently waited for her to finish.

“Wow,” Catra muttered just as Glimmer had finished and left her spoon leaning against the rim of her bowl from the inside.

“What?” Glimmer asked.

“Oh, it’s just that Adora didn’t finish her breakfast today. She never does that.” That was another thing, during the holidays Catra, Adora, Glimmer and occasionally Bow were allowed to eat together at the same time. Usually Catra and Adora wouldn’t be allowed to eat in the dining hall- as it was a place where only royals and aristocrats were allowed to eat- but Angella gave them an exception on holidays.

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

When Glimmer finished her breakfast, both girls left the dining hall- knowing that some of the palace workers would clean up after them- and were immediately stumped with what to do. Glimmer stood scuffing her boots on the floor as she thought of something the two of them could do when Catra suddenly grabbed her arm, eyes glowing. Glimmer let out a small smile at the sight of the girl’s eyes, finding it sweet, until she immediately shut that idea down in her mind.

No, bad Glimmer. She thought to herself as Catra began to drag her off without saying a word. Glimmer trusted that she was dragging her anywhere strange and let herself be dragged along. Catra led her down a series of hallways which, in succession, Glimmer had never travelled down. When the two finally stopped in front of a door, Glimmer felt oddly excited. She wanted to know what Catra lead her to, and she wanted to know desperately.

If it was something to do with Catra, it had to be entertaining.

With a wicked smile, Catra reached forward and unlocked the door, opening it. However, before Glimmer could get through, she shut the door abruptly.

“Wait, before we go in…”

“Yes?” Glimmer asked.

“Promise- promise not to laugh,” Catra looked embarrassed, which didn’t happen often. In fact, Glimmer couldn’t think back to a time where Catra had gotten embarrassed before. She seemed unembarrassable, if that was a thing, with such a cool attitude that it was almost unnatural to see her embarrassed. “You’re the second person I’m showing these to, well third if you count Avalon.”

“You know Avalon?” Glimmer asked.

“Well duh,” Catra shot back, the embarrassment vanishing from her face, “she’s worked at the palace for ages. Besides, she’s the one who brought me these supplies.” At these words, Glimmer suddenly remembered the time she had seen Avalon with buckets of something that Catra had supposedly ordered.

“Do you ask her to call you ‘Miss. Catra’ then?” Glimmer asked with a smirk.

“What?” A look of confusion suddenly flashed in Catra’s eyes.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” The two stood awkwardly for a moment before Glimmer began insisting that Catra should open the door. With a groan, Catra did. She forgot how impatient Glimmer could get sometimes, despite the fact that she could tell Glimmer always tried to play the ‘cool and mature person’ whenever she was a round.

“Come on in, but if you laugh, I’m throwing your ass out,” Catra said, letting Glimmer walk through the doorway before closing it behind the two of them. What greeted Glimmer made her mouth fall open. Lining the walls of the small circular room were paintings, some hung up on the walls of the room while others lay against them. In the middle of the room was a stool, easel, a blank canvas and a small box that Glimmer presumed was filled with supplies. Light flooded into the room through circular windows that were built in high up on the wall.

This was not what she had been expecting when Catra has dragged her off to a mystery location from the dining room.

“Did you…” Glimmer trailed off when Catra nodded. She hadn’t taken Catra as the ‘painter’ but thinking about it, it oddly made sense. She could just imagine Catra with a paintbrush in her hand, painting colourful stroke upon colourful stroke in the golden light of the afternoon. She could imagine Catra’s ideas spilling out onto the canvas in front of her, creating a beautiful image on what was originally blank white. Thinking about Catra painting made her cheeks flush, but Catra didn’t seem to notice.

Glimmer walked further into the room, admiring the paintings until her eyes landed on a specific one. It was of Adora, well Catra was in it as well. It pictured them when they were younger, standing side by side as a group of tall- and rather frightening- shadows encased them. Glimmer frowned at the painting, turning back to look at Catra who was awkwardly fiddling with her hands and whistling to herself. Catra eventually noticed the girl’s gaze.

“What?” Catra asked, causing Glimmer to snap out of the negative emotion that had just come over her.

“Oh, it’s uh, it’s nothing,” Glimmer said, hurriedly stepping away from the painting. “These are really good. I mean, they’re really good, Catra. I never knew you could paint.”

“Oh!” Was all Catra could respond, a bashful smile and blush coming over her face. “Thanks.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Not long… maybe since I was sixteen? I needed a hobby and in passing, one of the guards suggested that I started painting. And I guess I did and have been doing it ever since.”

“Well… I think it suits you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

 

_xxx_

 

Their New Year’s Eve tradition was practically the same every year, that’s why it was a tradition; similar to the birthday tradition the group of four had. This tradition included staying up all night, massive amounts of deserts, fireworks and many games- of course, these things didn’t happen in that exact order, though.

When Bow and Adora arrived back at the castle- with many, many supplies Glimmer might add- their next action as a group was set up one of the many spare bedrooms for what was always the best slumber party of the year. Adora was in charge of setting up the stock in the room and delivering all the desert ingredients to the kitchen, Glimmer’s job was to handle the lighting and set up the four beds- mattresses on the ground- that they’d be sleeping on and Catra and Bow’s job was to create the huge blanket fort which all four beds were under.

Glimmer was just making Adora’s bed when she heard a sudden yell and looked up to see Catra yelling. Catra who seemed to be getting increasingly closer and closer. Oh god, was the last thing Glimmer thought before Catra toppled onto her and they both fell onto the nearly-made mattress.

“Ow,” Glimmer whined, shoving Catra off her before rolling over to her backside. “What was that for?” Glimmer asked, looking at Catra who was curled up cradling her stomach on the mattress beside her. Catra was just about to snarkily respond when Bow suddenly yelled an, “are you okay?!” to the two of the before hurrying down the stepladder he was standing on.

“Woman down,” Catra groaned, before reaching out for Bow to help her up; which he did.

“You need some help Glimmer?” Bow asked, looking down at her.

“No, but after I finish making Adora’s bed do you need my help?”

“Actually, that would probably be good,” Bow admitted, embarrassed. And so, after Glimmer had made Adora’s bed- and the girl had coincidentally arrived back from the kitchen- the three of them watched as Glimmer made up the blanket fort with her magic, Catra and Bow having to occasionally help her.

“Is that good?” Glimmer asked, diminishing the light from her hands. She felt slightly tired but didn’t want to show it. She didn’t want her say off to be wasted by an hour of recharging, besides, she had already recharged yesterday.

“Perfect!” Bow responded with a grin, making Glimmer smile.

“Now,” Catra said, bringing attention to her, “are you going to show us what you got?”

“Oh, right!” Bow exclaimed and the two headed over to the two crates filled with things Bow Adora had bought. Glimmer paused a little wiping her brow of the slight amount of sweat collected there.

“You alright?” Adora asked, causing Glimmer to jump.

“What? Oh, yeah I am…” she mumbled out, to which Adora nodded.

“Okay, if you say so,” she said, before the two joined Catra and Bow at the crates. She decided not to push it, as she knew how stubborn Glimmer could get when it came to these things.

One of the crates was entirely filled with fireworks and sprinklers; the fireworks ranging in all sorts of colours, shapes and sizes. Glimmer couldn’t wait to set them off as it one of the peak moments of the night. In the other crates were snacks, an array of nail polish, face masks and bottles- it was alcohol. Glimmer wondered for a second how they managed to buy the alcohol as only those above the age of twenty-one were able to buy it- despite all four of them having drunk alcohol before- but decided not to question it. Ignorance is bliss, as they always say.

The next thing on their New Year’s Eve agenda was what they liked to call ‘pyjama time’ which was really when they’d all split up, get changed into a pair of pyjamas and bring whatever they needed back to the room to ensure they had an enjoyable night. Glimmer changed into one of the nightgowns that she owned- a light blue one with a small purple bow sewn into it- and grabbed an extra pillow from her bed along with a book and her tiaras special cushion- yes, she was still wearing, despite being in a nightgown. The rule about her tiara was that she always had to wear it in the day and was only allowed to take it off at night when she had retired to her bedroom and wasn’t coming out until the morning.

With a groan, she looked at herself in the mirror and thought she looked ridiculous. This was why, when it came to her going back to the room they were inhabiting for the rest of the day, she ran the whole way.

“What do you want to do first, gang?” Bow asked when all four of them were back in the room, dressed in what they usually slept in and sitting on their individual beds. “Because I really don’t mind.” With a nod of his head, Glimmer levitated the crate not filled with fireworks over to them before setting it down in the middle of the four beds.

“Well I don’t suggest we get drunk just yet, because that’ll make us feel sick,” Catra advised, Glimmer quickly shot back, “yeah no duh, Catra.”

“What about face masks then?” Adora suggested, ignoring the bitter glares Catra and Glimmer gave each other.

“Yeah that sounds good!” Bow responded, reaching into the crate and grabbing out the four facemasks. Or at least, the four packets containing the gel one needed to spread on their face to make the facemasks. It was pink in colour, smelling of strawberries and citrus with smalls specs of harder pink material within the gooey substance the four soon all wore on their faces.

Immediately, Glimmer began giggling, not able to deal with how ridiculous everyone looked with the mixture on their faces. Bow, with an evil grin on his face, dived at her and began tickling her relentless. From there, her laughter became louder and louder as she kicked and screamed with childlike glee. Adora, seeing the tickle fest going on and the tears forming in Bow’s eyes, dived at him to practically save Glimmer’s life, only for Bow to fall on top of the girl, ultimately squashing her as Adora tickled him. Catra rolled her eyes at them, failing to hide her smile at seeing their smiling laughing faces; even though Glimmer’s were more once ones of pain than ones of joy.

Eventually, Bow and Adora stopped and rolled off Glimmer allowing the girl to breathe freely. Somehow, despite all the madness, they had managed to stop their facemasks from rubbing off. Glimmer, Bow and Adora were exhausted while Catra, Catra felt fine. She decided to get up from her bed and move to sit on Glimmers- which lay across from hers. This meant she was closer to all three of them as while Glimmer sat on her bed, Adora and Bow lay in the space between.

“You guys alright?” Catra asked, Glimmer picking up on a hint of concern in her voice.

“Never been better!” Bow responded, breathing heavily. Glimmer laugh at this and Bow just glared at her. “How about you. Adora?”

“Great!” Adora responded, breathing just as heavily.

“I don’t know why you guys are so breathless! I was the one nearly squashed to death!” Glimmer whined, picking up the tiara beside her which fell off her head in the skirmish. She quickly decided whether to place it back on or not before putting it on the tiara cushion beside the mattress.

“Does anyone know when these are meant to come off?” Catra asked after a little while, which she was responded to by a series of ‘nopes’ from Bow and Adora.

“So, we’re just meant to wait here until our faces start to burn?!” Glimmer asked. Catra then elbowed her in the side to say, “that sounds like a plan to me.” Eventually the four realised that they could read the packet the mixture came from to find out how long they were meant to keep it on, rather than waiting for their faces to feel like they were on fire.

The night continued on and they talked, played games and eventually… they started drinking. It didn’t take long for them to get tipsy and it didn’t take Adora- the lightweight of the group- to get drunk. Just when was narrowly walking the line between rather tipsy and drunk, the group decided to play never have I ever. A game that they played often at these sleepovers, but never with actual alcohol like you were supposed to. Catra still sat on Glimmer’s bed with her, the two sharing a bottle while Adora and Bow did the same on Bow’s bed.

“Who wants to start?” Catra asked, sounding almost completely sober even though Glimmer knew that she wasn’t.

“You should!” Bow yelled and Adora cheered, “yeah!” They’re drunk-selves really weren’t that much different from their normal selves, just louder.

“Okay…” Catra raised her eyebrows and shook her head a little, “never have I ever… completed my work on time.”

“Lame!” Adora called, yet Bow and Glimmer both drank. “You next Glim!”

“Uhm… okay. Never have I ever trained to be a guard.” Adora and Catra both glared at her while Bow grinned. While the two drank Glimmer and Bow reached across to each other to high five each other's hands.

Adora went next saying, “never have I ever studied to be Queen.” And Glimmer drank bitterly. Bow retaliated by saying a ‘never have I ever’ that targeted Adora, and the game continued on. On what they all declared the final round, as Adora and Bow both looked like they wanted to drop dead and Glimmer was too giggly to take anything seriously, Adora pulled out the question, ‘never have I ever kissed somebody.’ To which they all drank, despite that being against the rules.

They all went to brush their teeth- Glimmer also grabbing all of them some water for when they woke up in the morning. Sharing goodnights all around, they went to their appropriate beds and Adora and Bow swiftly fell asleep. Catra and Glimmer, however, did not. Glimmer knew that she was drunk and Catra… well Glimmer presumed that she was at least tipsy. Even though she didn’t show it at all.

Upon realising Glimmer was looking at her, Catra adjusted in her bed before saying, “hey.”

“Hi,” Glimmer quietly giggled in response. Catra eyes glowed faintly in the dark, and Glimmer realised that it was times like these that she remembered Catra was half cat. The girl’s ears and tail had kinda morphed into more of an aesthetic choice in her mind, so upon seeing her blue and yellow eyes shining in the dark… she finally remembered.

“How are you?” Catra asked, “still intoxicated?”

“Yup!” Glimmer said, the volume in her voice making Catra cringe.

“Hey Glimmer, how about we keep the volume down? Adora and Bow are still sleeping,” Catra instructed, to which Glimmer’s mouth formed a small ‘o’ shape and she nodded.

“Did anyone set the alarm for midnight?” Glimmer asked, slightly slurring her words as she rolled over on the mattress and looking up at the dark ceiling.

“No, I don’t think so. But I don’t think anyone’s really in the condition to wake up to set them off, either.” 

“I guess you’re right.” The two fell silent once more until, twenty minutes later, Glimmer spoke up again. “I’m not- not sleepy… oh, are you still up?”

“Yeah, and I’m not either.” Catra watched Glimmer sit up, the sleeve of her nightgown having fallen down her shoulder while her wings were curled together on her back. Catra’s face lightly flushed at the sight of her, quickly turning away from Glimmer’s yawning figure.

“You know, you don’t act drunk,” Glimmer giggled, crawling out of her bed and towards Catra. She leant against him, linking their hands. Catra didn’t quite know what to do at this, she didn’t know why Glimmer had was leaning against her and she certainly didn’t know why she had joined their hands. Glimmer’s whiney murmur cleared her confusion up real quick, “it’s cold.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” Catra began to softly run her hand through Glimmer’s hair. It felt soft under her hand, occasionally sparking her with power as she ran her hand over the twinkles in the girl’s hair. “Hey… because those two aren’t in the shape to set off fireworks at midnight, you want to set one off now?”

“Yeah!” Glimmer exclaimed, trying to stand up but as her head was slightly spinning she immediately fell down again. Straight on Catra, this time. “Oops… sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” Catra sighed, “just let me help you up, do you feel up to teleport us down to one of the fields?” Catra helped Glimmer stand on her own two feet and the girl was quick to nod. “Good, now let’s go choose one or two to set off, okay?”

“What about three?”

“Okay then,” Catra said with a chuckle. “Let’s set off three.”

The girls soundlessly chose three favourites, still holding hands, before Glimmer teleported them to one of the fields on the castle’s property. Of course, as she was drunk, she teleported them and immediately fell over- only caught by Catra’s arms hurriedly going around her. “Hey, maybe don’t do that anymore,” Catra smiled worriedly.

“That… probably sounds good.” She stood back as Catra set up the fireworks, placing them firmly in the ground before stepping away. While it was nowhere near midnight, and they knew that the fireworks would probably bring the guards close to them, they were ready to set them off anyway. So, with a sobering-up- but still drunk- Glimmer and a tipsy/lightly drunk Catra, they lit the fireworks. Well, Glimmer did by sending a spout of magic that way, setting the brightly coloured fireworks off.

And as they stood side-by-side watching fireworks crackle and explode in the dark night sky, their hands found their way back to one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter six, aka the New Year's celebration chapter many months early :3
> 
> Long time no post! Sorry for that, I was on holidays for the past while and I've been having some writer's block. I hope you enjoyed this silly little filler chapter; I basically just wanted a couple of chapters where the four could just hang out and this chapter (and the next) are kind of demonstrating that! 
> 
> I hope you're having a wonderful day/night and I hope that you come back next time!! 
> 
> P.S Kudos, comments and hits are always acknowledged and GREATLY appreciated uwu


	7. Chapter 7

Adora and Bow felt horrible in the morning. Well, Catra and Glimmer did too, but Adora and Bow felt worse. When they woke up, they immediately started whining- something very annoying to Catra and Glimmer who had barely gotten any sleep the previous night. Adora practically chugged her bottle of water while Bow simply sipped on his while the four of them got ready for breakfast. None of them were that hungry, but they knew they should attend breakfast regardless.

“I’m mad,” Bow groaned when the four of them had arrived at the dining room fully dressed and ready for a day out on the town.

“Why are you mad, Bow?” Glimmer asked as they sat down together, attendants bringing in their food shortly after.

“Because we didn’t set off any fireworks last night! Or at least, Adora and I didn’t.”

“What do you mean by that?” Catra asked mischievously, obviously Bow had caught onto their little firework-escapade in the field last night, if the sound of them didn’t give it away from the beginning. Although, both Bow and Adora had surprised Glimmer with the amount of noise they could sleep though.

“I mean that you two didn’t bother to wake us up when you decided to set some fireworks off last night-”

“They what?!” Adora interrupted, slamming her fists down on the table making Catra- who sat beside her- jump.

“Yeah, you heard me,” Bow said to Adora, “these two traitors got to have all the fun lads night while you and me were sound asleep.”

“So uncool…” Adora pouted.

Catra rolled her eyes with a sigh, “you two were dead asleep, it’s not like we could have woken you up if we tried. Besides, you both know that if we had managed to wake the two of you up, you’d be mad at us anyway for interrupting your sleep.”

“Yeah!” Glimmer exclaimed. “You guys were in no condition to set off fireworks last night.”

“And you were?” Bow retorted bitterly.

“You know what I mean,” Glimmer frowned.

The meal they shared from there was fairly silent. Bow and Adora we’re still surprisingly bitter towards Glimmer and Catra, and therefore the girls didn’t feel comfortable speaking. It wasn’t a great start to New Year’s Day. Especially as it was usually such a happy day for all of them, like a birthday but Glimmer was actually allowed to leave the palace. Luckily though, Adora wasn’t one to hold a grudge long and by the time they had all finished their breakfast and headed out of the dining hall, she had practically forgiven Catra and Glimmer for ‘having all the fun without her.’

Even Bow came around in bitterly saying that what Glimmer was wearing looked nice on her. And to be fair, Glimmer did look quite cute. As she was going out in public, she had to be dressed nicely and appropriately. This was why she was wearing a long-sleeved pastel dress and a rather extravagant blue cape she had been gifted from the ball. She wasn’t used to wearing things like it, but as she felt cute, she also felt rather comfortable. She thought that maybe she should try wearing more dresses from that point on, not that there was anything wrong with her leotard, though.

“When are we going out today?” Catra asked, stretching her arms behind her head. “We can just leave anytime, right?”

“Yeah,” Glimmer answered, “I just need to tell my Mom when I’m actually going, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

“Obviously,” Glimmer giggled. Adora and Bow shared an odd look between the two of them, not sure what on earth Catra and Glimmer were on about; the strangest thing to them was the fact that Glimmer had been sent into giggles over one word.

“Why don’t we head out now?” Bow asked, choosing to ignore whatever was going on between the two girls. “We’ll beat most of the rush that way.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Glimmer agreed.

It didn’t take long for her to track down her Mother to tell her that the four of them were heading out. Her Mother just sent her on her way with a nod and a ‘be careful’ meaning Glimmer was freely sitting in a carriage with Adora, Bow and Catra not long after. The four of them were hitching a ride to the main square before they’d get dropped off at the main square, they all were fine with walking but as Glimmer was a Princess it simply wasn’t allowed. Which kind of sucked, if she was being honest. This didn’t mean she wasn’t excited, though.

While yes, the sleepover they had every year was pretty cool, the best part of the two-day New Year’s tradition they had was definitely when they explored the many squares and stalls set up for the day. Not only did they get many cool things, but it was just a fun experience all around.

When they arrived at the square, Bow helped her jump down from the carriage while Adora and Catra ambled their way out themselves.

“Now, what should we do?” Bow asked. “We’ve already eaten breakfast so we don’t have to worry about that but… there are so many stalls! What are we going to do?!”

“Calm down,” Catra said, raising her eyebrows in concern, “we have the whole day, right?”

“Yeah!” Glimmer said, trying to cheer the boy up.

Adora, who had been silent this whole time, suddenly jumped as an idea came to her mind. “What if we split up?”

“What?” Bow asked, crossing his arms.

“No, just listen to me. How about we split up into pairs, meet back here for morning tea before changing pairs, meet back here for lunch before the final swap happens and we come back here to get picked up?”

“What…” Bow was even more confused.

“Uh…” Adora wasn’t sure how to explain it well, “well, how about Catra and I pair up while you go with Glimmer? We can meet back here at the time we always have morning tea at the palace and then we can continue my idea from there.”

“I think I get what you mean,” Glimmer nodded, somehow understanding the jumble of words Adora had sputtered out before. “For now, let’s just split up and meet back up at the time morning tea usually is and we can try and find something to eat.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Adora exclaimed, despite the fact that Glimmer’s plan was just a reiteration of what she had said before.

Soon after this, the four found themselves split up and exploring different squares filled with stalls. Adora and Catra had headed off in search of another square they could look through while Bow and Glimmer headed forward into the jumble of stores that sat in front of where they had been dropped off.

“Are you really mad?” Glimmer asked as the two admired a small array of paintings displayed in one of the stalls. She was being very careful when moving around, not wanting her hood to go falling off her head as it was practically the one thing keeping everyone from recognising her from behind.

“What?” Bow asked as he gently picked up one of the paintings to get a better look at it. He put it down after a second.

“I said, are you really that mad?” The two moved on to the next stall, where Glimmer immediately got enticed by a fine bit of jewellery sitting on the table. It was a broch, a purple flower was present in the middle, appearing as if it was woven out of fine strands of gold and amethyst. She purchased it soon after, and put it carefully in the satchel she had brought with her.

“That you set off the fireworks?” Glimmer nodded. “No, I was just kidding. Besides, I’m glad that at least someone set them off, they were very expensive you know.” Glimmer laughed loudly at that.

The two continued to explore around, being careful with their money and what they spent it on. In the end, Glimmer had bought a book of spells, a couple of bottles of herbs for concoctions she’d always wanted to create with her magic and the brooch she had gotten early in their exploration. Glimmer, of course, got noticed by a couple of people. When it happened, they bowed to Glimmer before sharing pleasant words- during these exchanges Bow only stood awkwardly by her side. Glimmer was pleased to know that everyone was pleased to see her out and about as there hadn’t been much news of her after her coronation.

She found it extremely heart-warming that people were actually thinking of her.

When they met up with Catra and Adora, Glimmer had ditched the cape. Due to her positive previous encounters, she was feeling much more comfortable with not wearing it. This allowed her pale wings to lie freely at her sides. They had grown slightly since her coronation, she noticed. She really couldn’t wait for when her wings were fully grown- while her Mother was quite the stick in the mud, she did look overwhelmingly cool with her wings.

They found a stall selling a bunch of different pastries where they bought some to share and ate them while sitting underneath one of the many trees skirting the squares. Somehow, Catra ended up with icing all over her face, which made them all laugh. Glimmer swiped some from her cheek, licking it off her finger with a smile while Catra stared adamantly at her.

The next pairs they split up into were Bow with Catra and Adora with Glimmer. Glimmer and Adora’s adventures within the stalls were much the same as her experience with Bow. The two of them were walking around, stopping whenever people recognised and wanted to talk to Glimmer, when Adora suddenly came to a stop.

“What is it?” Glimmer whispered, wondering why Adora had suddenly stopped.

“Look at that,” Adora whispered back, pointing to a sword displayed in one of the swords. “Can we go look at it?” Glimmer nodded and the two walked up to the sword. The stall keeper, obviously noting them, walked over to them from the other side of their display. They gasped when they realised that Glimmer was standing there.

“Your Highness!” The sputtered, dipping down into a deep curtesy.

“Please, it is quite alright,” Glimmer said smiling. “I was wondering if you could tell us what this is?”

“The sword?” The stall owner asked, standing up straight. Glimmer nodded. “Oh, it’s a prop sword I made! It is the sword based on the story of She-Ra,” at the look of their confused faces the stall owner continued, “the picture book?”

“I haven’t read it,” Glimmer shrugged, and the owner frowned.

“Well, I definitely suggest you read it. It is quite a wonderful story.”

“Noted,” Glimmer warmly smiled.

“Princess, if you don’t mind me saying, I really love your tiara! It inspired me to model some more tiaras and crowns.” Glimmer walked over to where the owner gestured in interest, a warm feeling flooding her face as she admired the ornaments in front of her. “I was at your coronation and… wow.”

“Adora, come look at this,” Glimmer murmured, expecting the girl to be right beside her. However, she turned to see Adora still looking at the sword. She looked like she was completely in awe, so Glimmer decided not to disturb her.

The two stayed at the stall for a while, Glimmer eventually buying one of the tiaras based on her own, as well as buying the prop sword for Adora. Even though neither had read the story, Adora was totally enamoured by it. The owner of the stall had told them a little more about the story of She-Ra and what the picture book contained, and Adora seemed absolutely obsessed with Mara and Razz, the two main characters of the book.

For lunch, the four of them ate in the same spot they ate their morning tea. Catra was absolutely obsessed with the sword they had gotten while Bow demanded to wear the tiara so that he and Glimmer could match. Of course, she let him wear it. Bow and Catra hasn’t bought much, in fact, only Catra had. She showed off the small gem that she had bought, the circular object smooth to the touch as it softly glowed a pale orange in colour. She wasn’t sure what type of gem it was, but it sure was beautiful.

When they split up into their final groups, Catra with Glimmer and Bow with Adora, Catra immediately took her hand, saying that she had a place she wanted to take her.

“Where is it?” Glimmer asked, filled with curiosity. “Is it a stall or something?”

“Uhh... no. But it is near quite a cool one anyway.”

“Okay…” Glimmer trailed off, hesitant to follow Catra’s way. However, with the feeling of the girls strong and warm hand around hers, she couldn’t not follow along. The girl lead Glimmer to an open field nearby to one of the squares, hurrying past all the stalls and their vendors in a rush, as if the world was about to end and this was one of the final things they would ever do. Glimmer decided in that moment that if the world were about to end, she wouldn’t mind spending her final moments by Catra’s side.

“What did you bring me here for?” Glimmer asked, clearing her mind. Her voice came out rather sharply, causing Catra freeze for a few seconds before going back to her reserved nature. If there was one thing to know about Catra, it was that she really didn’t like it when people raised their voice at her.

“Well, I noticed something really cool while shopping with Bow,” Catra said with a grin, indicating the girl to come closer. Glimmer did. “Look at this,” Catra murmed, pulling out the gem she had previously shown off at lunchtime before holding it up to the sun. Glimmer looked confused until she looked up at the gem. Under the light of the sun, the gem shone a bright and misty orange colour. It caught the light beautifully, causing orange light to cascade down one of the sides of Catra’s face.

“Woah,” Glimmer hummed, walking even closer to look up at the gem under the sun's light. While the gem wasn’t completely see-through, Glimmer could faintly see the blue sky through the murky orange of the gem. It, for some reason, reminded her of the moonstone back home at the palace.

“You can have it if you want,” Catra shrugged, tossing the stone lightly to Glimmer. It wasn’t much of toss, however, because the two were standing right beside each other.

“But… you were the one who bought it,” Glimmer said, tossing it back.

“Yeah, but orange is your favourite colour,” Catra tossed it back. Glimmer smiled at the fact that the girl had remembered but threw the gem back nonetheless.

“But it’s your stone,” Glimmer laugh. The rest of the afternoon consisted of them checking out some of the stalls while throwing the gem between the two. In the end, when they had met up with Bow and Adora to walk back to the palace, Glimmer ended up with it. Somehow. She wasn’t exactly sure how she had gotten it in the end.

 

_xxx_

 

They were about fifteen minutes into the walk when Bow had started whining. He was usually good at walking long distances, as they all were, but apparently as they had been walking around all day… he had worn himself out. Completely. His moaning and groaning quickly got annoying, especially as the three girls were also beginning to struggle as the walk from the town back to the castle was a trail scaling up a massive incline.

Glimmer much preferred walking to the town than back from it, especially as walking down the steep hill gave her an excuse to run or roll most of the way down. Her mother didn’t like when she did the later as Glimmer would always come home with many bumps and bruises after rolling the tough stone of the road. Maybe that was one of the reasons why Angella began to forbid her from going out without a supervisor or taking the carriage.

“Okay, I’m pretty sick of this,” Catra grumbled. It caught Glimmer off guard that she was the second one to break.

“Yeah, I’m bored too,” Adora sighed. “What about you, Glim?” Adora asked, randomly adopting a nickname to her at the end of her question.

“Yeah, me too,” Glimmer nodded. The four of them then stopped and moved to the side of the road to brainstorm how on earth they could get to the palace swiftly without using too much energy. Finally, after much too long a time, Bow remembered that Glimmer had magic. Magic that could potentially teleport them back to the palace, despite it being a fair distance away and a distance way out of Glimmer’s comfort zone.

“Wait, are you guys sure about this?” Glimmer asked as Catra, Adora and Bow decided on the teleportation idea. “You know I could end up teleporting us way off target.”

“We’re sure!” Adora nodded.

“Alright then,” Glimmer nodded. “I wanna get a run up for this one so the three of you huddle further up and get ready to hang on.” The three followed her instructions, forming a semi-circle a little further up the path, Catra and Bow ready to catch Glimmer’s hands while Adora simply held both of those. Glimmer moved back a few paces before sighing to herself, getting herself ready to run, “you can do this. You’ll just… need to recharge afterwards,” Glimmer nodded to herself. Took another deep breath. And then she ran at them, jumping towards the group when she was close enough and skilfully catching Bow and Catra’s hands.

While the teleport was quick and sharp, she immediately felt her power zapped out of her as soon as the four touched- crashed- down in the middle of one of the palace hallways. She had been aiming for her bedroom but considering the distance she had just teleported them; it was an achievement that they even made it inside the castle.

While the four were dazedly getting up, one of the guards walked over and asked if everything was alright. They all replied ‘yes’, saying that the only thing they needed was Glimmer’s Mother so she could fly Glimmer up to recharge. Glimmer didn’t really feel up to walking up the stairs to the gemstone. She’d rather be flown up there.

She was soon up and laying on the small surface prepared for her when she needed to recharge. She fell into an easy and comfortable sleep, her energy recharging as she did so. She woke up when the sky had turned a dark shade of blue and the first stars had begun twinkling in the night sky. It was quite a beautiful thing to wake up to, she thought.

She slowly sat herself up, stretching out her wings, arms and back before yawning loudly. She wanted to get back to bed straight away, and so she ended up skipping dinner. After she had gotten ready for bed, she suddenly remembered the gemstone she had stored away in her leotard’s pocket and hurriedly got it out. It still glowed an orange light and immediately sent a smile to Glimmer’s face.

After the girl had teleported to her bed and thrown her blanket over herself, she placed the stone under her pillow where her diary also sat. She decided that she’d keep it there for a while, until she had an appropriate place to store it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! Thank you for reading this chapter xx
> 
> I'm still struggling from writer's block but I'm trying to get myself back into the swing of writing. I wanted to apologise because of this as my chapters might be shorter and slightly more rushed as I try to settle down into my writing style again. 
> 
> Kudos, comments, bookmarks n' hits are always noted and appreciated, THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR READING THIS FAR INTO MY DUMB STORY!!! I hope you come back next time uwu
> 
> P.S Sorry for any mistakes in this chapter, I didn't really feel like editing that much jsajsinaw


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw// mention of vomiting (non-explicit)

Glimmer received the letter a few days after Adora’s birthday. Her twentieth birthday to be exact- it was scary for everyone to think this. Ever since her birthday, Adora had been supremely busy, maybe it was something to do with her age, but Adora had suddenly taken on a lot more guard abilities. It wasn’t rare to pass by Adora in the halls as the girl was often on duty. Glimmer thought it funny that Catra didn’t have these same commitments, or maybe she did, and she just didn’t… well… commit to them.

But yes, Glimmer received the letter five days after they had celebrated Adora’s birthday. Sadly, the celebration had been cut short because of a briefing Bow, Catra and Adora had to go to, but it was a celebration nonetheless. The letter she has received was from Princess Frosta, someone she hadn’t spoken to since her coronation party. The letter was inviting her to a party, a slumber party to be exact, that a handful of the Princesses had been invited to. Glimmer presumed that a majority of them wouldn’t show up.

But it sounded fun, and with a brief session of pleading to her Mother, Glimmer was allowed to attend the slumber party being held in a couple of days.

It was upon getting the letter that Glimmer realised she had never actually had a sleepover before, well, outside of the sleepovers she held with the other three. But for some reason, those didn’t really count to her. This was when Glimmer also realised that she didn’t know what a real sleepover was like. What were you meant to bring? What were you meant to wear? What were you meant to do? How did you talk to people? Should you have a nap before you go encase you don’t actually end up sleeping? Do you need to bring snacks? Do you-

She had a minor panic after that and had to go lie down. The next day she tracked down Avalon and had the girl help her pack a bag, Avalon happily obliged- however, she was a little surprised that Glimmer was packing her bag so early. Glimmer said that it was because she wanted to be extra prepared. Avalon still thought it was weird.

The days leading up to the sleepover were filled with work and classes. There were documents for her to fill out, letters she had to write and notes she had to take from her Mother’s recap of things she had talked about in meetings. It was a pretty shit time, if Glimmer was being honest.

It didn’t help that she had been in a bad headspace for days upon days. She was easily irritable, felt extraordinarily sick- especially in the stomach- and broke down every night. Glimmer hated crying, it was exhausting.

This was why when it actually came to the day Glimmer was meant to be travelling to the Kingdom of Snows for the sleepover, she felt utterly sick. Even after Bow’s weak attempts to cheer her up. He couldn’t spend time with her for long, though. One of his siblings was visiting back home so he rarely had time to visit the castle. He had tried to get Catra to spend time with Glimmer when he had to go because Adora was still busy, but she was weirdly untraceable. Apparently, she had left the castle. But neither of them had known about that, it seemed like Catra had disappeared without a trace.

So yeah, it was a pretty bad day to be travelling.

The ride in the carriage was okay at best, it was a long trip to the Kingdom of Snows meaning Glimmer had time to nap on the way there. However, she was constantly woken up by the jolting and rattling of the carriage, meaning she spent a lot of time changing position in the carriage to find the most comfortable- and least bumpy- position. By the time she had found this ‘perfect spot’, the carriage had to stop to give the horses dragging it a break and Glimmer had to get out of the carriage.

She felt like throwing up. Which she did.

She did a lot.

She spent the rest of the carriage ride sitting on the floor of the carriage, trying to mute the sound of the loud thoughts trapped in her brain. It wasn’t fun, and because of all this, she was in quite the pissy mood when she arrived at Frosta’s castle. Well, she was also cold as she had forgotten to wear the appropriate clothing for the Kingdom of Snows, though she was sure she could borrow a coat once inside.

“Are you okay from here on?” The carriage driver asked her, handing Glimmer her suitcase. The Princess nodded and politely nodded before kindly dismissing him and making her way over to the guards who stood in front of the palace’s gates. Upon recognised her and the tiara she wore on her head, they let her through where she was promptly tackled by Frosta. Apparently, she was the first one to arrive.

“Glimmer!” Frosta enthusiastically yelled when she had finished bear-hugging the girl, still clutching at the girl’s arm.

“Hello Frosta,” Glimmer smiles, straightening herself out but allowing the teen to stay latched onto her. Besides, it was kind of nice. “Where is everyone else?”

“You’re the first one!” Frosta exclaimed before muttering, “and hopefully not the only one.”

“I’m sure other people will show up.” Frosta only shrugged. “Uh. How about you show me where we’ll be staying then, also, can I get a coat or something?”

“Oh, yeah,” Frosta nodded before indicating to one of the hovering members to hurry on with Glimmer’s request- obviously they had heard her question. “And good idea! We should wait for your coat, though.” Glimmer nodded.

The coat the Princess was rewarded with was thick and soft, stark white and fluffy fabric encasing her. The coat was long and reached to her knees, immediately making her feel warmer. She didn’t know how Frosta could stand this constant cool temperature, but then again, she supposed that the young Princess had grown up with it.

Frosta then led her down a series of winding hallways before eventually- and finally- arriving at the door of the bedroom they were going to be staying in. It was set up with a circle of six beds, too small a number to possibly be for all the Princesses Glimmer presumed Frosta had invited. Maybe this sleepover was going to be a lot less intense than Glimmer thought it was going to be.

“Take any bed,” Frosta instructed before walking over to the one Glimmer presumed was her own. The fact that Frosta flopped on it a few seconds after basically confirmed that fact. Glimmer decided to simply take the bed beside Frosta’s, too nervous to just put herself between two random Princesses. She began unpacking some of her things and soon after, they heard a knock at the door. “Come in!” Frosta loudly yelled.

Glimmer commonly forgot how loud the small girl could get.

On the other side of the door, it turned out, that two more Princesses had arrived. Glimmer presumed that the two had arrived together, simply because it was Mermista and Perfuma. No matter how hard the two tried to hide it, Glimmer could just tell that there was something there. Even if it was only tiny.

“Hey,” Mermista walked in and threw her case onto one of the beds; Perfuma immediately took the one next to her. Glimmer guessed that the two must have gone to many sleepovers before, they practically commanded the room.

“It’s nice to see you both,” Perfuma happily chimed, “thank you for inviting us, Frosta. It’s wonderful to see you again Glimmer.”

“Oh, thanks…” Glimmer awkwardly mumbled.

“You’re looking quite chilly over there, Princess. You okay?” Mermista asked, not thanking Frosta which made the young Princess glare.

“Yes, I just forgot my-”

“She just forgot to wear warm things, like a dolt,” Frosta interrupted with a smug smile.

“Yeah, real mature Fro,” Frosta cringed away from the nickname Glimmer called her, but said nothing to it either. Glimmer decided that she would adopt it, for the extent of the sleepover at least.

“Well, at least you seem to have a coat!” Perfuma grinned. “Do you know who else is coming?”

“Well, I invited Princess Scorpia and Princess Entrapta, but I have no idea if they’ll come,” Frosta replied.

“Entrapta?” Mermista asked, “isn’t she like… old.”

Frosta only shrugged, “I just thought she was interesting.”

“She is,” Glimmer said simply. No one said otherwise.

Luckily, the four didn’t need to wait long for the other two Princesses to arrive. Entrapta arrived around ten minutes later, saying that she was late due to ‘robot miscommunication’ while Scorpia arrived ten minutes after that, profusely beginning to apologise. Glimmer hadn’t actually seen Scorpia in ages, missing the girl entirely at her coronation. Scorpia took the only bed available- between Entrapta and Glimmer before Frosta stood proudly in the middle.

“Thank you all for coming!” She began. “Today marks the day of my first ever sleepover and I hope you all enjoy it, let’s make it the best sleepover ever!” They all cheered, madly grinning at one another. “Scheduled we have ice-skating, makeovers, dinner and dessert before a board game, a midnight feast and some party games!”

“I’ve never ice-skated before!” Perfuma exclaimed, throwing her arms wide and accidentally hitting Mermista in the chest with the back of her hand. Neither girl of the girls said anything, choosing to move on from it. “What do we need?”

“Oh- uh- just what you’re wearing, I guess,” Frosta shrugged, abruptly losing the previous commanding confidence she had possessed. “We have loads of skates so we should have your size, maybe bring an extra pair of socks?”

They all nodded and after grabbing what they needed to bring, they followed Frosta out of the room and to the ice rink. During this walk, Glimmer decided to talk to Scorpia. While she knew that the Princess wasn’t scary at all, her appearance was still intimidating.

“D-do you know how to skate?” Glimmer awkwardly squeaked after she had made her way over to walk beside Scorpia.

“What, sorry,” the big girl chuckled, “I really couldn’t hear ‘ya.”

“I- I just asked if you’d ever skated before!” Glimmer squeaked once again, slightly louder this time.

“Oh! No, I haven’t. My kingdom is pretty dry and dusty,” Scorpia shrugged and Glimmer nodded. Glimmer remembered the first time she had met Scorpia and her family, she had been young, and she and her parents had travelled over to their kingdom to talk over some trade agreements. They had let Glimmer run lose in the palace during the meeting and it didn’t take her long to encounter Scorpia. Back then, she had had longer white hair and a softer, lighter shell. Her points hadn’t been as sharp and the best her stinger could give someone was a brief second or two of numbness.

She had slightly scared Glimmer at the beginning, being so loud and energetic. Eventually, though, Glimmer had warmed up to her. Of course she had. Scorpia was genuinely one of the nicest people she’d ever met- and would ever meet, even.

“I’m sure excited for it, though!” Scorpia exclaimed and Glimmer nodded.

The ice rink wasn’t terribly far from the room they were staying in. For a brief minute, it surprised Glimmer that Frosta had an ice rink in her palace, until she realised yet again that she was in the Kingdom of Snows… aka the ice kingdom. The rink was empty, the icy surface seeming to glisten in the lights dangling from the ceiling. It was gorgeous.

“Woah,” Glimmer whispered, and Frosta grinned at her.

The easiest part of the whole activity was getting a pair of skates that fit, the second was actually putting the black skates on and the third was getting herself to set foot on the ice. Frosta, of course, set out first. If the satin white skates the girl had on was any indication of how much the girl skated, her skill on the ice showed it even more clearly. It was as if Frosta was flying, making shapes out of ice as she went as magic shot from her palms. Entrapta was next interested by the ice and following directly behind her was Perfuma and Scorpia.

Scorpia had only spent a few seconds on the ice before slipping, nearly tumbling over. She was only barely caught by a vine Perfuma had summoned from her palm to catch the girl. The two shared a smile before wobbling off. Glimmer watched them with a laugh caught in her throat, surprised to see that Princess Entrapta was actually quite skilled at ice skating. Maybe it was the hair?

“You gonna skate, Princess? Or just watch in awe?” Mermista asked from beside her.

“Hm?” Glimmer hummed; she hadn’t been listening.

Mermista rolled her eyes, “no, it’s nothing. Are you going to go out onto the ice?” Glimmer merely shrugged. “You should, it looks like it’d be fun.”

“What about you?” Glimmer asked indignantly, “are you going to skate, Princess Mermista?”

“Probably not, I’m more of a normal water girl- not hardened.” The two stared at each other before they began snickering, “okay, I did not mean for that to sound like a euphemism.”

“Are you sure?” Glimmer loudly asked, not believing her in the slightest.

 

_xxx_

 

The afternoon seemingly passed by without any of the Princess’ realising. Glimmer had somehow managed to convince Mermista onto the ice with her and somehow, they had managed to escape out of that situation without absolutely harming themselves. The makeovers taking place right afterwards were fun, and it was then that Glimmer finally made good on the decision of cutting her hair short once again. A couple of snips here and there- with the help of Perfuma and Entrapta- and she was back to her short style. She cut it shorter than she had meant to, but it looked nice.

The funniest part of the whole makeover had been the face masks as Frosta simply wouldn’t sit still as Glimmer applied the mixture of the mask onto her face. It caused them all to laugh.

Dinner had been superb and dessert, of course, had included some of the yummiest frozen treats Glimmer had tasted. All the Princesses felt rather stuffed following the meal, and they all tottered back to the room they were staying in. They had gotten changed and ready for bed before Frosta had brought the boardgames out. She said they were free to drop out when they wanted to, and one by one they did.

Perfuma was first to drop out, returning to her bed to sit and get to work on some papers she had brought with her. Glimmer had followed her after a couple rounds of a handful of games, joining Perfuma on her bed and beginning to braid her hair; Glimmer had been taught to braid her as Catra had gone through a phase of constantly wearing fishtail braids. Adora’s hands had been too shaky to do them and Bow was too impatient, so Glimmer was apparently the chosen one. Entrapta was next, however, instead of leaving to do her own thing in the room she had chosen to do a voice-over of the games, speaking into the voice recorder she had brought with her. Scorpia had dropped out next, deciding to simply lay on her bed watching leaving Frosta and Mermista go duke it out.

They played for what felt like decades, but eventually, their equally competitive flames had died down and they had concluded the board game portion of the night.

The spent the next couple of hours until midnight simply co-existing with one another in the space. Only on occasion would they interact. Whether that be Mermista complementing Perfuma on her braids or Glimmer reaching over to hit Frosta to keep her awake, they mostly kept to themselves.

When midnight came, it was much the same. Despite the fact that they had begun to play a game of Truth or Dare.

“Have you ever been in love?” Frosta asked a barely awake Glimmer, the question had eventually come up as Glimmer knew it would one way or another, but she was too sleepy to be embarrassed by it.

“I don’t know,” Glimmer responded drearily, yawning as she spoke. “I don’t really know what being in love entails. Do you?”

“I’m thirteen, Glim,” Frosta shortly responded.

“Right.”

After a few moments of silence, Perfuma spoke up. “I think romantic love can be a lot of things. I don’t know if someone would ever be able to explain it because love is different to, well, to everyone,” there was a brief beat of silence where the evident sound of someone swallowing could be heard. Perfuma then continued. “Love to me is... warm, and bright. It’s comforting, but also terrifying. If you’re in love, the person you’re in love should let you feel safe while also exciting you immensely. They should make you feel like static, but they should also calm you down.”

“They should make you smile,” Scorpia quietly whispered after Perfuma had finished her mini spiel.

“Mhm,” Perfuma nodded in the dark- Frosta had dimmed the lights down when the midnight feast and party games had started.

“Well, what about it Glimmer. Any of those metaphors sound familiar?” Frosta asked. “Are you in,” Glimmer could tell that the girl had paused to wiggle her eyebrows despite the fact that she could barely make her out, “love?”

Glimmer thought to herself for a moment. In her mind, she saw flashes of a familiar smile, the tinkering ring of familiar cackles and the adventurous feeling of mischief spark in her chest causing her heart to beat faster. As these sensations began to blur together in one form of warm orange, Glimmer began to feel sick. And with a single word she locked these words deep inside her brain, “nope!”

“Really?” Frosta asked again, just to make sure.

“Yup,” Glimmer nodded, mainly to herself just to make herself feel better.

For some reason, her throat felt stuffy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no post!! I mean, at least I didn't leave you hanging for a month :3c
> 
> Thanks for reading today's chapter!! I hope to see you again <3
> 
> Comments, kudos n hits are always noted and greatly appreciated!!


	9. Chapter 9

Glimmer was a liar; she knew that much. She lied about a lot of things.

A broken vase as a result of her childish messing around? Not her fault. Uncompleted homework? A miscommunication. A missed dinner party? A fault of her Mother for not reminding her.

These lies were never questioned, even when Glimmer turned fifteen and she began to realise that she could lie about practically anything and everyone would have to believe her because she was the heir to the throne, these little lies were never questioned. No matter how outlandish these lies were, they were never, ever questioned.

This was how Glimmer grew up with a rather positive- and unhealthy- perception about lying and lying from then on just became second nature to her. She used it as an easy way out of things, as a constant second or third option. Lying became her easy way out if things became too hard, and so she lied a lot.

However, she mostly lied to and about herself. And these, were the unhealthiest lies of all.

They clouded her vision, drastically changed the way she thought and often caused things to go wrong- or incredibly painfully. The worst thing about these lies was that they were incredibly hard to protest against. They were so perfectly perceived in her mind, that finally getting herself to admit the truth was incredibly hard.

But this was just the way Glimmer lived.

The way a liar lived.

 

_xxx_

 

The stuffy feeling hadn’t gone away since the sleepover Glimmer had attended. It had been a new constant in her life. Especially when she was around Adora or Catra- even though those moments were fleeting, Adora was constantly busy and Catra seemed like she was in the palace one hour and gone the next. Glimmer had to occasionally check Catra’s painting room to check that the girl still lived in the palace, to check that Catra was someone real and not some figment of her imagination.

Luckily, Catra was indeed still real.

Hell, even in the brief moments she saw Avalon this stuffy feeling became slightly more noticeable.

Glimmer wanted to talk about it. She wanted to tell someone how weird she was feeling, like cotton had been stuffed down her throat, just waiting to be thrown up. But she felt like no one would understand. No one could. And even if they could, she felt unable to even describe the feeling.

Glimmer felt stuck. Trapped in her mind, and there was no escape.

So, to battle this, Glimmer did the one thing that she knew how to do. The one thing she was good at doing. The one thing that often made it even worse. She buried this stuffy deep, deep down and tried to ignore it. During this time, Glimmer is more dedicated to work then she has ever been in her life.

She finishes homework, storms through paperwork and even goes with her Mother to some meetings within the kingdom to take notes. She reads a lot of books- so many books- and finds herself commonly falling asleep in the library. During this time, she is also steadily focused on her non-written work. She nails at least five new dances, advances greatly in her poise work with her Mother and continues to make great strides in her fighting techniques and stamina.

Hell, she even manages to advance heavily in her magic work. She works her Father’s staff well and even managed to greatly show off to Bow with twirling tricks and controlled explosions. She studies her Father’s notes and pays extra close attention to all the entries on healing magic. She travels to Mystacor to visit her Aunt, but mostly to continue her research.

Two months go by in a blast and Glimmer is simply swept up in the never-ending passage of time. She feels like she can’t stop, like she’s on a constant free fall. While the past months of work were exhausting, they also felt strangely exciting. As if they were ecstatic.

She finds herself sending a ‘Happy Birthday’ letter to Entrapta from her and Bow, as well as some attached technology that Bow made just for Entrapta to critique. She finds herself spending more time with Bow than ever before, while also spending the most amount of time away from him. Her friendship with Catra and Adora stay strong, and somehow the time she spends away from them is almost refreshing.

Maybe being with them constantly wasn’t as good for their friendship as they all thought.

Time seems to slow during and after Perfuma’s birthday picnic which a lot of Princess’- and Catra, Adora and Bow- are invited to. It’s a nice day. Perfuma’s kingdom is gorgeous and all the people she talks to are nice. Scorpia and Catra make a reunion. Adora and Seahawk- who was also invited- arm wrestle countless times during the day. She, Bow and Frosta spend time mucking around. Perfuma tells Glimmer all about her favourite flowers and makes her a flower crown out of small and delicate white and purple flowers. She sees Mermista and Perfuma utterly transfixed in one another, and she accidentally stumbles across them kissing, which is quite awkward at the beginning, but slowly melts into laughter from all three of them.

And while she doesn’t spend a lot of the day with Catra, the moments she does spend with the girl are magical. Catra informs her that she’s been doing a bit of travelling and searching. Just like Adora, Catra is looking to the future. While her process of looking to the future has been much slower than Adora’s, it’s still present. It is also, still ongoing.

It scares Glimmer a bit, but Catra assures her not to worry. Telling her that she’d always be there for her, even if one day she moved out of the castle. Something Glimmer dreaded. She knew that Bow was soon going to cease going to the castle as often as he did- if at all- and apply himself in other fighting occupations closer to home, and so losing another of her friends made her feel incredibly sick.

However, Glimmer knew these thoughts were selfish, so she trapped them away and instead put on a happy smile for Catra.

The absolute best part of the day though, without a doubt, was watching the sunset. Together, everyone who had attended the picnic sat atop of the hill and watched the sun go down. Glimmer sat between Catra and Bow with Frosta lying with her head on her lap. Adora sat a little in front and to the side of them with Entrapta and Scorpia while Mermista and Perfuma sat a little behind them. While watching the sky take on its peach hue, Glimmer- with heat building in her face- felt Catra’s fingers quietly intertwine with hers.

No words or looks were shared, and it simply felt natural. This was why Glimmer then lay into the girl with her head on Catra’s shoulder and why Catra lay her head on top of Glimmer’s after that.

“I’m gonna go get a drink,” Catra said as people began to disperse from watching the sun while still sitting on the hill. “Do you want anything?”

“Nope,” Glimmer shook her head, popping the ‘p’ in the word.

“Can I come?” Frosta asked, suddenly sitting up, “I need to pee.”

“Of course,” Catra grinned before helping the girl up before, in one swift motion, picking up the girl on her back making the younger Princess start into barking laughter. This made Glimmer smile even more.

“Watching out Catra, or you’re soon going to feel your back get extremely wet,” Bow called, making Catra’s nose crinkle before she stuck her tongue out at him.

Bow and Glimmer sat in silence for a bit before Bow turned to her. “Hey, you okay? You looked kind of pale today.”

“Hmm? Oh, I’m fine,” Glimmer shrugged, drawing her knees close to her chest and beginning to play with the cuffs of the overalls she was wearing. A very ladylike get up, if you asked her.

“Really? You look exactly like you did when you got back from Frosta’s,” Bow noted. Glimmer gulped at that. “Not to push it or anything, I was just worried…”

“No, it’s okay. I…” Glimmer began, but soon found she was hurt of words. Bow looked at her, waiting for her to continue, before shrugging his shoulders and lying back on the grass of the hill. The peachy sky had turned darker, Glimmer noted as she lay down beside him.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” Bow turned to her, “no matter how scary.”

“I know,” Glimmer exhausted before turning to him.

“So, is there anything you want to tell me?” Bow asked.

Maybe it was something about the way Bow looked at her that made her feel unbelievably safe. Maybe it was the way her hand still felt warm from holding Catra’s. Maybe it was the flower crown that Glimmer had adjusted to fit into her actual tiara still atop her head. Maybe it was the warmth of the fading, dying sun warming her head.

But Glimmer found herself spilling to Bow. As if she was puking her guts out, she spewed and spewed and spewed up the emotions of the last two months. What she had gone through. That feeling of falling and never being able to stop. It was only on her last words did she stutter.

“And,” Glimmer began before sighing, her tone nothing more than a whisper, “I think- I know this is gross and weird- but I- I- I… I like girls! A lot. Really badly, all the time. And it hurts, because I know that’s weird and wrong. But I want to kiss girls, and not boys. I don’t want to be with a boy. I don’t like boys.” Glimmer gasped, not having breathed through her rant, “I just… like girls.”

Bow looked at her silently, before reaching over and taking her gloved hand in his, “I’m so proud of you. You’re so brave.”

Glimmer burst into tears and Bow hugged her close. By the time Catra and Adora had come to collect the two because their carriage home had arrived, Glimmer was extraordinarily tired from crying and her eyes were puffy.

Catra and Adora didn’t question it, and the four simply moved to pack up the things they had brought- handing them to Adora to take back to the carriage- before going to find Perfuma. They shared happy- yet sad goodbyes while Perfuma hugged all of them before giving them a gift bag. As she handed Glimmer hers, she cast a small incarnation and a ring appeared around her pointer finger, a ring of vines with a purple flower upon it. Glimmer smiled at Perfuma, and at the flower, and vowed to never take the ring off.

Well, aside from when she went to sleep. She didn’t want to accidentally crush it.

Bow and Glimmer walked hand in hand back to the carriage while they watched Adora and Catra chase each other childishly. It was in this moment that Glimmer realised that the two must have missed each other an awful lot. They were best friends, and so being apart from each other must be really hard.

Glimmer supposed that that’s just what the future did. And that was another scary thought to her.

Throughout the ride home, Glimmer watched the sky as the sun finally faded behind the hills and stars finally began to twinkle in the sky. Glimmer smiled up at them and promptly fell asleep.

 

_xxx_

 

“So, when did you know?” Bow asked as he sat down beside her in the empty library. It was early morning, meaning no one else would be in the room. It also set Glimmer up for a very productive day of work.

“What?” Glimmer asked, looking up from the textbook she was taking notes from.

“Oh, uh, unless you’re not comfortable talking about it.” Glimmer still looked clueless. ‘Your coming out,’ Bow mouthed, and Glimmer finally got the message.

“Oh, I don’t know? I think I’ve known for a while I just… didn’t want to say it out loud. Hell, even now I can’t even say the word that I fucking am.”

“I get it, more than you probably realise,” Bow grinned at her. And Glimmer knew that. Even though Bow was more comfortable in expressing himself in being gay and transgender, it didn’t mean that he didn’t have demons inside his mind. Everyone did.

“I know,” Glimmer whispered.

The two spent the rest of the morning in the library just talking, having to split up after morning as Bow was going back to his parents to help out around the house and Glimmer had lessons to get to.

In fact, Glimmer only met up with one of her friends when she ran into Adora on the training grounds.

“Hey!” Adora called, and Glimmer waved back at her. Staff in hand. “Do you want to practise with me?”

Glimmer shook her head, “no, I was just thinking of practising on a dummy today...”

“Oh, okay,” Adora nodded. Glimmer had never declined a practice session with anyone before, so she couldn’t help but watch the girl ready herself in front of one of the dummies before drawing in a big breath and circling the staff around her body.

Glimmer leapt forward, striking the dummy with the middle of the staff before stepping back and shooting at the middle of it with a controlled- and small- blast of power. Glimmer was… well, Glimmer was good. Really good, Adora realised.

She had definitely improved in the two months that she’d barely seen her but hell, so had she.

The rest of Glimmer’s day continued swiftly, and so did the next. She had begrudgingly followed her Mother to another meeting, but was allowed to have a milkshake afterwards so it pretty much made up for it. While the meetings were actually rather interesting, the low droning on of voices made Glimmer want to nod off into sleep every time.

On the next day, she met up with Bow again. However, this time it was because she was practising all the dances she knew, and she needed a partner. He agreed because he too needed to practise his dance moves. “So,” Bow started, “even though this doesn’t affect your sexuality whatsoever, have you ever kissed a girl before? Or, anyone in general?”

Glimmer scoffed as Bow twirled her into his shoulder. “Um, duh.” The blank face Bow had her made her laugh and roll her eyes. “Fine, I’ve only kissed one person. On the lips at least.”

“Who?” Bow asked as he spun her out, dipping her low before swiftly bringing her up once again.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Well, that is why I asked,” Bow shrugged as the two walked in a circle, hands placed together in the middle.

“I know,” Glimmer hummed as she swayed out, arms sweeping low, before swaying in again, “it was Adora.”

“What?!” Bow sputtered as the two went back to back, hands interlocking as Bow twirled her again, bringing her to the front.

“I know right,” Glimmer grinned.

“When did this happen and why didn’t I know?” Bow asked as the two clicked their heels and he lifted Glimmer up into the air just briefly.

“It happened last December, and you didn’t know because it was a friend kiss. Nothing more than me wanting to kiss someone and Adora complying because we are friends, it’s not like weird married or whatever.”

Bow wiggled his eyebrows at her, and she rolled her eyes, curtsying to him while he bowed. The two readied themselves to start on another dance before either of them spoke again.

“Besides, I don’t even like Adora like that,” Glimmer shrugged as the two placed their hands on each other in the designated places. “Well, not anymore.” Glimmer watched their feet as they danced, Bow leading her with his right hand. That was one of the best things about dance, she had an excuse to be really lazy with it as the male side of the dance almost always ended up being the one to lead.

“What about Catra? You kissed her?” Bow asked and Glimmer’s face abruptly warmed. She didn’t know why.

“No! Why would you ask that?” Glimmer asked defensively as the two turned and spun past each other before turning back into one another with a clap. “I already said that I’ve only kissed one girl.”

“I was just checking that you could do math,” Bow grinned widely.

“Sure, sure,” Glimmer huffed, and the two focused back on dancing.

The dances from Etheria were all pretty similar at base value, the only thing differentiating them was the kingdom they came from. For example, the Brightmoon dances were very particular about their spins. The dances just couldn’t get enough of them, apparently. This was the reason why when Glimmer and Bow had finished dance practice, they were both extraordinary dizzy.

“Do you have anything coming up?” Glimmer asked as the two lay down on the floor, Glimmer beginning to make snow angels on the floor- without the snow. “I’ve just been… you know… working. But what about you?”

“Eh,” Bow shrugged, “nothing much has been happening. I’ve just been spending time with my Dads, bringing them tea when they’re working and stuff. I guess one thing that’s coming up is that my parents are getting a shipment of books in next week and they asked me to help unpack them.”

“Oooo,” Glimmer hummed.

“What about you?”

“Huh?”

“What about you? I know there must be something interesting going on within all that work.” Bow grinned.

“Hmmmm, well I guess I’ve been going to meetings with my Mother a lot. You know, learning about the kingdom I’m set to rule.” Bow awkwardly laughed, trying to empathise with her even though they both knew he really couldn’t. “For now, though, I just kind of want to lie on the floor.”

“God,” Bow groaned, “same.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed today's chapter. Sorry if the ending of it is bad tho, I finished Perfuma's party bit n then i realised I had nothing else to write so I kinda bsed my way through it.
> 
> Other than that, this chapter was really easy to write for some reason so I hope you enjoy it!!
> 
> Kudos, comments and hits are always noted and greatly appreciated, I hope to see ya next time <3


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